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Mislabeled Variables

Last year, I participated in a FREE online PD offered by NCSU for teachers of statistics.  This was an amazing opportunity and I highly suggest checking it out if you're not familiar with what this institute offers.  There are courses for all levels of educators and they promote collaboration and best practices.  And as an added bonus, you receive CEUs!

 I'm guessing (hoping) my intro leads you to believe that I found this gem of an activity through the above-mentioned PD.  While I have the original PDF from the MOOC-Ed, as always, I re-create activities that I have stolen borrowed from other educators.  However, here is the copyright info from the original.  I did try the link at the bottom, and it no long works.  So instead of a hyperlink, you get a snip...

 Here's the breakdown of the activity... I have students fill out a survey on Google Forms with the questions located on the Student and Teacher Mislabeled Variables activity sheet.  

 I typically have this form on my website or just email the class with it hyperlinked in the Student Directions' document.  Trust me, I really try to save paper and copies as much as humanly possible!  Once the students have completed the form, I open the responses in a spreadsheet, make sure there are no answers that stand out, and rearrange the columns in a random order (and yes, I truly use a random number generator in Google Sheets - it's an add-on and needed for the stat teacher in all of us!)

 Original Responses: 

 Meanwhile, my little angels are working on a FRAPPY (I will be sharing my take on these shortly) which I give about 12 minutes to complete - perfect for rearranging the columns in random order.  Once I have the new spreadsheet, I email my students the link to copy to their Google drive, at which point they begin discussing which variables they were assigned.  Once they have moved through their student sheet/instructions, they share their end product with me and we do a brief whole-class discussion on thoughts about the variables and appropriateness of graphs. 

 Random Order: 

What could possibly go wrong with this fun activity?  Well, let me tell you.  One of the original questions on the write-up asked to pick a gender - 1 male and 0 female (or something to this effect).  Of course a discussion broke out about those who don't identify as one or the other.  Easy, I changed the question!  It now reads "Does your home have more than one level?".  I'm thinking that couldn't at all be controversial... right?

~SSB



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