Statistics Newscast in Math Class

OBJECTIVE: Students will use video to share information from sports teams that they have analyzed. Students will create graphs comparing two separate sports teams and give predictions on who would win the next time they play each other. Students will work together in pairs to gather, analyze and create the graphs. They will then create a newscast sharing their data and predictions.

Use of Technology:
Teacher will video the process the students take on the project. Video will be used to present on the school website for parent and community to view what students are achieving in the classroom.
Students will use the video to create newscasts on the data they are analyzing comparing the two sports teams.

Process:
1) Students will be introduced to the newscast project at the beginning of the unit. Student Pairs will be decided and requirements will be reviewed.

2) Students will study different types of graphs:
-line graphs
-histograms
-bar graphs
-circle graphs
-frequency tables
-stem-and-leaf plots
-box-and-whisker plots
3)Students will study how to create graphs accurately and read information from these graphs.
Students will also practice analyzing data by using mean, median, mode and range.

4) Students will then research the two teams they will be comparing in their newscast. They will collect information on points scored in each game, comparisons of height or weight of the players, win/loss records.

5) Students will collect the information in the graphs that were listed above and analyze the data using the mean, median, mode and range.

6) Students will learn about appropriate ways to create a newscast and then write a newscast about the information that they found about the two teams. Within the newscast they will show the graphs they created and discuss the information they analyzed. The will also decide who would win if the two teams played each other.

7) Once created, time will be spend viewing each groups video newscast. Approved/allowed videos will be posted on the school website.

8) Students will evaluate and reflect over the project. They will be evaluating the effectiveness of the process they took on the project, what they learned about statistics, what they learned about reporting on data they researched and analyzed.