Lesson Plan: How Tall Were the Ancestors of Laetoli?

This investigation was originally published in Bridging the Gap Between Common Core State Standards and Teaching Statistics by Pat Hopfensperger, Tim Jacobbe, Deborah Lurie, and Jerry Moreno.

(Grade 8 – Common Core State Standard 8.SP.1) The focus of this investigation is to look for and measure the degree of any relationship between two quantitative variables, specifically height and foot length. The motivation for this study comes from a science dig. Footprints were found that were determined to be more than 3 million years old. It is of interest to predict how tall those ancestors might have been based on the lengths of their footprints. Students will investigate whether there is a relationship between their own height and foot length. They will collect, organize, and analyze such data and then informally predict what the height of the ancestors might have been.

Keywords: Grade 8, CCSS 8.SP.1, scatterplot, QCR

Download: PDF Lesson