Lesson Plan: Can You Roll Your Tongue?

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 6 & 8 – Common Core State Standards: 6.RP.3C, 6.SP.3, 8.SP.4) This investigation focuses on students examining an association between two categorical variables. Specifically, they will investigate whether there is an association between gender and whether a person can roll their tongue. As part of this investigation, students will collect, organize, and analyze data in a two-way table; construct and analyze segmented bar graphs; and calculate the percentages of boys and girls who can roll their tongue.

This investigation is based on an activity in Probability Through Data, a module in the Data-Driven Mathematics series (1999).

Keywords: Grade 6, Grade 8, CCSS 6.RP.3C, 6.SP.3, 8.SP.4, association, categorical variables, two-way table, segmented bar graphs, percentages.
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