Short activities working with real data
An outline of all the parts of the mini lessons and the key statistical concepts they incorporate.
All terms: Mini Lessons, Other
PowerPoint presentation (Title, plus 4 slides) reviews three kinds of questions students are likely to ask: Compare groups, correlation, time series.
All terms: Ask Statistical Questions, Mini Lessons
Once you have decided what question you are asking, you will need to decide what kind of graph will be the best tool to help you answer your question!
All terms: Ask Statistical Questions, Mini Lessons
The Graph Choice Chart and Table are great reference tools that you can use when you are learning how to take a dataset and turn it into a graph!
All terms: Mini Lessons, Graph Choice
How do precipitation levels along the Maine coast and in the northern part of the state change with the seasons?
All terms: Ask Statistical Questions, Atmosphere, Mini Lessons, Earth Science
A mini lesson designed for you to practice working with the balloon ascent data.
All terms: Ask Statistical Questions, Atmosphere, Mini Lessons, Earth Science
This mini lesson will give you some practice using a graph to ask statistical questions about a dataset.
All terms: Ask Statistical Questions, Energy, Mini Lessons, Physical Science
Use this lesson to practice using the solar panel data.
All terms: Ask Statistical Questions, Energy, Mini Lessons, Physical Science
Use the data in a tide table from Bar Harbor, Maine to ask different kinds of statistical questions.
All terms: Ask Statistical Questions, Hydrosphere, Mini Lessons, Earth Science
PowerPoint presentation (Title plus 8 slides) to introduce the idea of measuring more than one thing, and expecting variability in a group of measurements.
All terms: Ask Statistical Questions, Mini Lessons
A PowerPoint presentation with six slides about variability.
All terms: Describing Variability, Mini Lessons
A PowerPoint with seven slides to guide you through making a frequency plot.
All terms: Describing Variability, Mini Lessons
Learn how to scale an axis and make a dot plot.
All terms: Describing Variability, Mini Lessons
Have you ever heard of a box plot? It's just another kind of frequency plot, and it starts with a dot plot! Learn how to make one by viewing this short PowerPoint presentation.
All terms: Describing Variability, Mini Lessons
How you ever wondered how to measure the tides? What is the difference between high tide and low tide?
All terms: Describing Variability, Mini Lessons
How many major earthquakes occur worldwide in a year? Use this mini lesson to practice interpreting a frequency plot and make predictions about the occurrence of earthquakes in future years.
All terms: Describing Variability, Lithosphere, Mini Lessons, Earth Science
How long do hurricanes usually last? In this mini lesson, you will work with hurricane data from the first decade of the 21st century to practice describing variability.
All terms: Atmosphere, Describing Variability, Mini Lessons, Earth Science
How fast does the wind blow during a hurricane? In 2005, Hurricane Katrina and the destruction it caused made headlines in the news -- but how consistent were Katrina's wind speeds with the wind speeds of the several other hurricanes that took place in 2005?
All terms: Atmosphere, Describing Variability, Mini Lessons, Earth Science
How high is high tide? Work through this mini lesson and use real data from Bar Harbor to decide if all tides rise to the same height.
All terms: Describing Variability, Hydrosphere, Mini Lessons, Earth Science
Do animals or plants have more chromosomes? How does chromosome number compare among different species of plants and animals? Use this mini lesson to practice making generalizations based on a frequency plot, which you will construct to compare groups within the given dataset.
All terms: Animals, Life Science, Comparing Groups, Ecology, Humans, Mini Lessons
How did gas prices in 2011 compare among countries in Europe and the United States? Use this mini lesson to practice interpreting frequency plots.
All terms: Comparing Groups, Energy, Mini Lessons, Physical Science
Are there more fish species in warm lakes or cold lakes? Use this mini lesson to practice comparing groups within a dataset.
All terms: Life Science, Comparing Groups, Ecology, Mini Lessons
Use this lesson to work with the midges data set.
All terms: Animals, Life Science, Comparing Groups, Mini Lessons
Does everybody in your class have the same reaction time? Work through this practice exercise and learn how you could find out!
All terms: Comparing Groups, Mini Lessons
Is high tide higher in the morning or in the evening? In this mini lesson you will be asked to interpret a couple different box plots to answer this question and explain your reasoning using the graph choice chart.
All terms: Comparing Groups, Hydrosphere, Mini Lessons, Earth Science
Is there a relationship between the temperature of the water and the temperature of the air in Penobscot Bay? Practice using a scatter plot to determine if these two variables are correlated.
All terms: Hydrosphere, Correlations, Mini Lessons, Earth Science
When Hurricane Sandy struck the east coast of the United States in the fall of 2012, much of the damage occurred because the storm surge combined with an extremely high tide at the end of October. Do you think that the corresponding low tides where higher than usual or lower than usual? You can try to answer this question by working with data from Bar Harbor tide tables. What do you think -- when the day's high tide is extremely high, is that same day's low tide extremely high or low? What kind of graph would you use to solve this problem?
All terms: Hydrosphere, Correlations, Mini Lessons, Earth Science
Use this lesson to practice using the earthquakes datafile.
All terms: Lithosphere, Mini Lessons, Time Series, Earth Science
Use this lesson to practice using the gas prices datafile.
All terms: Energy, Mini Lessons, Time Series, Physical Science
How do air and water temperatures in Penobscot Bay change over time? Can you relate the information presented in this lesson to what you learned in mini lesson 4 using the same dataset?
All terms: Hydrosphere, Mini Lessons, Time Series, Earth Science
How does tide height change over the course of a day? Use this mini lesson to practice reading a line graph and interpret the data from a time series.
All terms: Hydrosphere, Mini Lessons, Time Series, Earth Science
Use this template to construct your own mini lessons in the classroom!
All terms: Mini Lessons
