This semester I'm teaching an HSA Algebra/Data Analysis for the first time. It's also the first time that I've taught 9th graders, and so far, the girls are super mature and the boys are a mixture of wise beyond their years and super wiggly.
I overheard some of these wiggly boys talking smack to each other about the Miami Heat vs. the Celtics on Friday, so today their "Do Now" assignment was to create boxplots comparing LeBron James' and Paul Pierce's points per game for the last 10 games. As soon as the boys walked in they were excited, but they said they'd rather compare LeBron and Kobe. So, (thank you Internet!) I quickly hopped on ESPN's website and replaced all of Paul Pierce's data with Kobe's.
The kids were totally into it, my totally disinterested/too-cool-for-school boy actually changed seats from his usual spot in the back to a spot closer to the front (!!!)
After constructing their boxplots (each and every child, without prodding), the boys continued their trash talking. However, they were now overheard comparing the median PPG (!!!) and discussing how even though LeBron's median was higher, Kobe was more consistent (smaller IQR).
It was definitely one of those moments when I wanted to run out in the hall just to find someone else to witness the amazingness.
1 comment:
I have a math junior at university doing much the same thing - though soon to move into hypothesis testing. She's equally excited.
Another biology senior in my stats class wants to look at variation in number of steps people take to do a mile walk. She's highly motivated to address this question.
We absolutely need to be flexible enough to start from the students' interests.
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