4. Statistics and Probability

1. Exploring Univariate and Bivariate Data (S1)
2. Sampling and Study Design (S2)
3. Probability Models (S3)
4. Sampling Distributions (S4)
5. Point and Interval Estimation (S5)
6. Significance Testing (S6)
7. Inference for Regression (S7)
8. Assessing Assumptions of Statistical Models (S8)

Additional Links to General Mathematics Sites

• Mathematics Games and Student Activities
• Mathematics Lessons Plans
• Interactive Learning and Problem Solving Activities
• Word Searches and Puzzles in Mathematics
• Miscellaneous Sites

High School

1. Assessing Assumptions of Statistical Models
   1. Analysis of Human Population Growth
      This 3-part activity is designed to introduce students to human population growth. Several online sources are used in this activity, including a World Population Clock that is a real time data site. In Parts 1 and 2 students make a variety of mathematical calculations designed to illustrate the current size and growth rate of the human population. In Part 3 students analyze a graph that shows human population growth over time and complete a written assessment that requires them to demonstrate their level of understanding of population size, growth rate, factors that have led to current levels of growth, and predictions for the future.  The site includes three activities, rubrics for assessment, and suggestions for accomodations for special needs.
   2. Put the Heart into Mathematics
      Outstanding! This NCTM (Illuminations) activity is geared for students in grades 9-12. This unit contains four different teacher lesson plans with reproducible student worksheets, and interactive graphing and data collection capabilities. The lessons provided explore cardiac output by measuring the amount of blood being pumped by an experimental heart. Students will explore rates of change and accumulation in the context of cardiac output and accumulation using hands on experimentation, data collection, "pencil and paper" activities, etc.
   3. Running to Conclusions and Expoential Fit
      This lesson uses spreadsheets to explores the process of finding the best fitting exponential curve to sets of statistical data.
   4. Shedding Light on the Subject: Function Models of Light Decay
      Presented by NCTM (Illuminations), this website provides the teacher with a four lesson unit on the decay of light as an exponential model. Teachers will appreciate the printer friendly lesson plans accompanied by student objectives, worksheets, and references. The site includes an interactive grapher and downloadable movie clips (quick time required) for students.
   5. The Hermit Problem
      This project tracks the spread of a disease on a desert island inhabited by hermits. It uses the Internet and other student activities to explore the concept of expected value (ie: How many hermits do we expect to get the disease?).
   6. What Percentage of your Class is Right or Left Handed?
      Cythia Lanius provides this lesson for high school students to determine the percentage of students that are right or left handed in a classroom. Students perform experiments, collect data, graph the data, and analyze their findings. Worksheets, spreadsheets and teacher notes are available.
   7. What's the City Mileage of a Typical American Car?
      The goals of this lesson are to teach the methods of finding confidence intervals and tests for differences using the bootstrap method. Many statistical ideas will be investigated such as randomness, how to sample from a data set and how to make decisions based on statistical evidence. The activities use car mileage and sports topics. The class level that this lesson is geared towards are high school mathematics or statistics classes who have an interest in investigating statistical decision making.