This investigation was originally published in Bridging the Gap Between Common Core State Standards and Teaching Statistics created by Pat Hopfensperger, Tim Jacobbe, Deborah Lurie, and Jerry Moreno.
(Grade 6 – Common Core State Standards: 6.SP.1-5) This investigation focuses on students conducting a comparative experiment to explore the effect a fixed target will have on the distance students can jump from a starting line. Students will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first group will be asked to jump as far as they can from the starting line with no target in front of them. The second group will be asked to jump as far as they can, but a target (strip of tape) will be placed on the floor in front of them. Students will collect data about the distance jumped by each member of the two groups. They will display the data in a back-to-back stemplot or boxplot. Analysis of the data will include graphs and calculations of measures of center and spread.
Keywords: Grade 6, CCSS 6.SP.1, 6.SP.2, 6.SP.3, 6.SP.4, 6.SP.5, conduct an experiment, collect data, stemplot, boxplot, analyze, interpret results.
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