Marian Nowak, Lincoln Middle School, Park Ridge, IL.
Content Area: Mathematics
Grade Level: 7th - 8th
Curricular Unit: Statistics
In the unit on Statistics students will learn to:
1. Design a survey and gather data:
2. Display the data
3. Analyze the data
4. Make predictions from the data
5.Recognize misleading graphs and survey results and analyze them for content errors
PROJECT I
Each student will be given a copy of REPORT CARD 2000: ETHICS OF AMERICAN YOUTH. A discussion of the following questions will follow.
Part 1 Discussion questions before the survey is given?
What was this survey about?
What did you think of the questions that were asked?
What rights should you have?
What should you have the right to do?
What should you not have the right to do?
On the survey they ask about lying and cheating. Let’s start with cheating.
Is it wrong to cheat? How come? Are there times when it is all right to cheat?
IF STUDENTS ANSWER “YES” - WHAT MAKES IT ALL RIGHT TO CHEAT IN THOSE SITUATIONS? IS IT REALLY ALL RIGHT – OR UNDERSTANDABLE? WHAT IS THE BEST THING TO DO IN THOSE SITUATIONS?
Is there a difference between cheating and letting somebody copy your homework? What would that difference be?
What did you think of the cheating questions on this survey? Do they give a complete picture of the topic?
WHAT ABOUT LYING, IS WRONG TO LIE? HOW COME? ARE THERE TIMES WHEN IT IS ALL RIGHT TO LIE? WHAT MAKES IT ALL RIGHT TO LIE IN THOSE SITUATIONS?
Is it ever O.K. to lie to a parent? WHAT IMPACT DOES LYING HAVE ON YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE? HOW ABOUT WITH PARENTS?
What did you think of the questions in Section III of the survey relating to Values and Priorities?
How about Section IV, what predictions would you make about how people will answer these questions?
Questions 45 and 46 are almost opposite to each other. Do you think a person could answer yes to both and have it be true? How come?
Part 2 Each student will administer the survey to a group of students in their school, being careful not to survey the same students. After the surveys have been completed and returned, each student will complete a frequency table and produce a graph.
Discussion questions after survey is given:
What conclusions do you draw from your findings?
Were there cases where people admitted to doing things that were wrong and also said that they did things that were good?
What does this survey tell us about people?
Part 3 Since this survey has been given before, students would also research (newspapers, internet, etc.) the previous results that were published. They will compare their survey results and the published ones and analyze them in a final report. This research project could also be integrated with Language Arts.
In your reading of the news reports of the survey did they present all of the survey results?
What did they focus upon and what did they leave out?
How does this compare with your results?
What do you conclude about the way in which this survey was presented to the newspapers?
PROJECT II
Goals: Students would be given an additional project concerning the focus of the media (newspapers) on a çdolescent behavior vs. adult behavior.
At the beginning of the unit, the students would analyze the newspaper everyday for a two week period. They would collect articles on the following topics as they relate to their age group and adults:
Violence
Stealing
Accidents
Good deeds
Heroes
Politics
Global Happenings
Discussion Questions:
1. What impressions did you gather from your 2 week study?
2. Do you feel the media reports too much violence?
3. Does this have a bad effect on adolescence?
4. How do adults look on adolescent behavior in general?
5. What things could have a positive effect or negative affect ?
After the two week period, they will make circle graphs on the percentage of each topic that appeared. These graphs would be included in a final report of their findings.
Assessment:
Project I would be graded on the survey data collection, display, analysis of results and final report.
Project II would be graded on the study of the newspaper, graphs and final report.