EDN 325 : January 2014

My first thoughts about the conversation data was would knowing what well-known person each of my classmates chose give me insight into his or her personality? Would sorting the data give me any clue into their work ethics or extracurricular activities?

*Influential Women*	*Influential Men*	*Famous Men*	*Famous Women*
Haregewoin Teferra	Nelson Mandel	Johnny Depp	Elaine Davidson
Susan B. Anthony	Andreas Vesalius	Professor Albus Dumbledore	Veronica Roth
Rosa Parks	Pope Francis	Freddie Mercury	Nicole Krauss
Etta James	John F. Kennedy	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Lila Diane Sawyer	Edgar Alan Poe	Troy Polamalu
Lucille Ball	Albert Einstein
Mrs. Frizzle	Jackie Robinson
Jackie Kennedy	Dalai Lama
Mother Teresa	Leonardo da Vinci
Ellen DeGeneres	Dr. Seuss
Princess Diana

In the first chart, I put each person in categories that displayed what type of work they do or did during their lifetime. Some of the people showed up in more than one category. This showed me students in our class tended to pick people who were humanitarians, civil rights leaders, actors or authors (group 1) over Scientists, Artists or politicians (group 2). In the second sorting, I sorted the people by not only sex but also whether or not they would be considered influential to others. That is, are the catalyst for change?

Do you think this is a relevant way to sort data?

What does this mean?

Maybe the media had some influence over the people that were picked. We are introduced to the people in-group 1 through the media, television, radio and magazines. Group 2 can also be found in media but it is more selective and unless you are looking for then chances are you will not happen upon them. This was not necessarily true for the second sorting as people ended up in different groups with different people.
Sex did not seem to be a factor when picking a well-known person as the data showed 14 women and 15 men.
In all, an influential person was a top pick with 21 people being chosen. This may show that the majority of my classmates are interested in making a change in their world.

I would like to know why each person picked the person they did. I could give out a questionnaire that would give more insight to their choices. I would ask questions like:

Where did you first learn about the person you chose?
Did this person influence society in any way?

Article: Statistics in the Elementary Grades

I do not remember doing anything like statistics in elementary school. I do recall looking at data charts and then answering questions. I never was required to accumulate the data myself or construct a chart of such data. However, I am a big fan of logic puzzles. These puzzles ask you a question which you must solve using a limited amount of data that you plot on a given chart. These types of puzzles make you think about the question being asked and how the data supplied applies to the question. This article reminded me of these puzzles.

Have you ever solved a logic puzzle?

In the article, it went over the four step statistical problem solving process.

Formulate a question that can be addressed with data.
Collect data to address the question.
Analyze the data.
Interpret the results

I liked the way they got children involved in the entire problem solving process. I too believe that in order for students to understand what they are learning we need to be as hands on as possible. These children had the categorical data right in front of them making the lesson very tangible. The shoe problem was simple but could easily be built upon depending on the developmental levels of the students.

What other types of data could we collect using things found inside our classroom?

The soccer problem would require outside data to be collected. This would make contributing to the data a little more exciting. Even though the children collected numeral data, they worked with blocks to determine the fair share value of their data. For younger student it is easier to see your results as objects and assign numbers to them, then just numbers.

Do you find this true?

How Many Pockets

What a great idea to introduce data collecting to young students. It was hard for me to hear the video but I still watched it in its entirety. Not only did the teacher ask questions about the data collected she also asked her students to back up their interpretations of the data using the chart they made on the board. She gave her students time to think about what they were trying to explain and then asked the other students if they could repeat what each other had said and build upon it. This ensured that every child was paying attention to one another. I also liked that the teacher was sitting down on the floor at times with the children. I don’t know if it was just so they could see the board but it made the lesson more intimate and I think it helped the children pay attention.

Do you feel that the teacher physically sitting on the floor with her class facilitates learning in the classroom?

Annenberg

When I think of statistics, I reflect on my college class. I was surrounded my student who loathed the class and many of them had failed once before. Although my professor delivered his lecture in a monotone kind of way, he was very excited about the subject. He required us to do no homework but encouraged us to practice what he taught that day to be sure we had it. He would dismiss the class but always stay after to help anyone.

A general question that could be answered with statistics would be: What flavor of ice cream does the class like best?

Formulate a question that can be addressed with data. What flavor ice cream is most popular?

Collect data to address the question. Make a chart on the board and each child can come to the board a make an “X” by their choice.

Analyze the data. Look at the data to determine what flavor was picked the most?

Interpret the results. Take the data and write statements about the number of “X’s” in each category and how they relate/or not, to one another.

An example of a statistical problem and a population would be the “Nelson Ratings” This is a system used to collected data on the television watching habits of the average consumer. Having worked for the company and I know that the chose a certain amount of people at random to participate in their survey but I am unsure how they get their population. I imagine that they would get a list of different cable subscribers and send out invitations to join the survey. Not everyone says yes and not everyone that returns their information is added to the data. I would think that this is an example of a population that does not accurately represent everyone’s television habits. In order to have a true representative sample of the population you would have to know how many people watch TV on all services (cable, satellite, and antenna). Find the average of each group and send out invitations to those numbers. You would have to send out more than need to ensure that the total participation is achieved. You can disregard anything over but not having enough participation would mess up the data.

People Watching

I am a people watcher. I notice everything… While sitting in a fast food restaurant I looked around at whom was in line or dinning. You could answer many different questions in such a situation.

How many patrons were wearing glasses?

What method is most popular to pay with, a credit or debit card or with cash?

What is the most popular hairstyle?

How many patron brought children to eat?

How many patrons still have all their teeth?

How many patrons are carrying musical instruments? (This question makes me giggle as I once witnessed a man packing a pair of spoons in a holster.)

The possibilities are endless….