Girl Math

I have used a similar introduction to estimating a population mean, but this one uses actual test scores, not a number I programmed into my calculator. Again, I stole this idea from Stats Medic and just made it mine. The gist is that you give the students a random sample of 5 test scores and they are tasked with estimating the true mean test score. For me, I took the test scores from my last Precalculus Exponential and Logarithmic test (I didn't want to use my stats scores because they already knew the mean) and put them into this spreadsheet  (don't judge, it was a hard unit). I then chose many random samples of n = 5; and yes, I actually used a random number generator to do this. I did generate these samples ahead of time to make the activity more efficient.  The students worked in pairs through this student sheet . Because we had already covered inference for proportions, they were pretty competent with their estimations and almost all pairs captured the true mean.

As usual, I am revamping my AP Statistics course and upping my pedagogical game. It was time, College Board just gave me the boost I needed. To be honest, I have had this activity for years but never tried it. I used the "Thumb Tack" version- mainly to save money and I tend to forget to go to the store for school in my downtime. But Kisses aren't too much and I actually have a small class this semester... plus I've had the past 5 days off work! I have combined two similar versions of this activity into one. Feel free to check out my concoction by clicking here . The first version was sent to me by some friends in a PLN that I have met throughout the the years of going to the AP Reading. There was a footnote on the bottom and I'll give credit where it's due : " Modified by Lisa Brock & Carol Sikes from Aaron Rendahl’s STAT 4102 activities from University of Minnesota". The second version was found on StatsMedic .  The gist is giving stude

I love Star Wars! Since the last movie is coming out soon, I thought I would create a Probability Wars Review using Deck.Toys.  I love using Deck.Toys as a test review. It allows me to keep track of their progress, and my students would rather do this activity then a worksheet.  I found a site where you could create your own Star Wars opening ...of course, I had to do that! :) I also created a quest for each main topic we discussed in class. (Mutually Exclusive/Inclusive, Independent events, Binomial, Permutations, Combinations, Counting Principles, and Normal Distribution.)  I didn't use any study sets for this particular activity. I utilized the Lock app for each question. I decided to use this because I noticed some students guessing on multiple choice to get done with the activity faster. With the Lock app, students had to answer correctly to move on to the next question. I could also easily see where students were struggling by watching the teacher page!     Here is

I always find myself needing fresh ideas. Thankfully, Stats Medic was here to help... again! The CLT is not a terribly hard concept for students to memorize, but do they truly understand it?  For this ACTivity, students are comparing the ACT scores (get it now? ACT ivity?) from two high schools: one has an approximately Normal distribution while the other distribution is clearly skewed right. Students are taken to an applet where simulations are performed on the two distinct distributions, they are instructed to take samples of different sizes and then to describe/compare the sampling distributions. After the activity, there is an example problem to check for understanding. A couple of notes: While the resources on Stats Medic are fantastic, it's not very pretty (IMHO). Therefore, I have prettified it. Instead of using paper/pencil worksheet, I did create a HyperDoc for the students. Thanks for reading! Student HyperDoc Teacher Solutions ~ssb

Our school has made the jump to online testing! So you know what that means...DESMOS!  I wanted to show the students how Desmos could create histograms and box plots. Then I got the idea to allow students to find the mean, median, and standard deviation too.  So I created this Desmos activity as a tutorial & practice for those topics. The activity ends with a card sort where they must match the  mean, median and standard deviation to a histogram and box plot. I also included some multiple choice and open ended questions just as a review. I allowed them to use the Desmos calculator to assist in answering the questions.  I will say that my students aren't making the jump to Desmos so easily. They still can't let the handheld calculator go...but at least I'm trying!  Here is the activity if you would like to try this out in your classroom: Activity   ~RJ

I was recently collaborating with a group of NC Math 3 teachers, I truly learned a lot from them while working that project! One thing that went across my computer screen during this collaboration project was the "Birthday Polynomial" activity. Sounds straight forward, right? Just use Desmos, right? "What could possibly go wrong", I asked myself.  Well, many things went wrong.  For starters, almost all students were born in the same year and the graphs were hard for my students to manipulate. They also had an issue with all of the zeros (2003 was the popular year of birth). Needless to say, I put out many fires that day. I knew I had to revamp this activity, not ditch it, as there are a lot of great features and learning points (a little pun there). Introducing the " Personalized Polynomial " activity. In this version, we go from a polynomial with a degree of 7 to one with a more manageable degree of 3- what we mainly use in class anyway. Students ar

While there are many introductions to this unit, I wanted to create something that was more fresh than the activities I have done in the past. Hence, I Googled. I found an activity similar this one, but it cost money. So, I spent about 30 minutes creating my own! I have always avoided using the "Guess the Age" of celebrities since it changes yearly... but heights don't! Here is a link to my presentation; feel free to copy and edit according to your tastes and your students' interest. I also forced a copy of this spreadsheet to my students. This way they could copy/paste their data into Desmos. This was pretty fun, I may want to add a couple more celebrities the next time I try it. I also had everyone save their graphs in Desmos so that when the "Achieving Linearity" component of this unit popped up, everyone could choose their best fit model based on residual plots and numerical summaries.  It was fun and little more updated than some past intro ac

This is one of those activities that had all students engaged from the moment they logged in!  Students begin by practicing graphing systems of inequalities and finding points that exist in the feasible region. Then students are asked to create a system with a specific point in the solution. They had fun playing around in Desmos and the ease of use within in website where they could clearly see the effects of changing values in their inequalities to fit the guidelines and expectations of the exercises. Once the students were familiar with graphing systems of inequalities and finding solutions, we moved on to finding objects in a photo, this is point where the kiddos had the most fun. First, they graphed inequalities to see which object was isolated in two different photos. Then, they had to find Waldo and isolate him using a system of two inequalities. Finally, they were given a map of the US and asked to isolate North Carolina using three inequalities. I teach onlevel Math 3, bu

I saw this on Stats Medic (if you haven't visited this website and you teach AP Statistics, it's a must) and I'm so glad I tried it :) I did this as my opening day activity, so the students have not had any prior AP Stats instruction and it's perfect.  Basically, students "randomly" choose words from Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" song, count the number of letters in the words, and find the average. We then make a class dotplot of everyone's means. Then, I show them how to use a random number generator (AKA their calculator) to choose a for reals random sample. Again, the students find the average word length and plot the result on a dotplot beside the first one we created. Of course, we discuss the differences between the two dotplots and the importance of random sampling. We then decide, based on given information, if Beyonc é  wrote the lyrics for "Crazy in Love". Oh yeah, I created a Beyonc é  playlist to put us in the mood!

We love hyperdocs! We force a copy which will automatically save to the student's drive. Once finished then they can share with us! It is so easy to grade!  This activity involves a Desmos investigation that we found online. The link at the bottom of the page is the one that we edited because of time constraints. However, the one linked above is awesome! It goes through a couple of scenarios about sampling penguins. Then students move through sampling techniques with a coloring activity. They must change the background of each cell with the correct sampling technique.  The next section consists of data collection. Students must determine whether the data collection technique consists of a survey, an observational study, or an experiment.  Students then move to answer questions about margin of error and confidence intervals.  The last portion allows students to design their own study. This allows the kiddos to be creative while explaining their reasoning! 

Looking at the released NC Math 3 questions, I saw a trig drag and drop question. Well, why not let the kiddos practice some drag & drop by writing sine and cosine equations? This is very easy to grade, and the students actually enjoy it!  This was made for my Honors Math 3 class. I pushed them much harder than I would have an on-level class. I went past the curriculum and did phase shift since I know that they will see it again in PC.  So, I forced a copy and sent it to my entire class. The best part, they just share it with me they are finished. I did have a little anxiety since I had so many unread emails in my inbox, but it really didn't take too long to grade. So crisis averted. (Haha)  If you want to try it out, here is the student & teacher edition:  SE Trig Drag & Drop TE Trig Drag & Drop  My colleague made one for on-level. I'm sure you will see that sooner than later!  ~RJ 

Finding an activity dealing with logistic functions was not an easy task. So what should we do? Create our own HyperDoc, of course! While we are not Game of Thrones watchers, it would seam almost everyone else is so we decided to do a little research and instead of the zombies for most of these types of activities, we went with White Walkers. If you have no idea about these, don't worry- apparently high school students have no clue either.  Students will need computer access to plot using Desmos, Google Docs, and Google Sheets- to upload an already created data set into Desmos. This activity begins with randomly selecting one student from the class using a random number generator. This student will infect one other student (randomly), those two students will infect one more each, so on and so forth.  Once the class data has been collected, the students go through the HyperDoc comparing exponential and logistic functions considering carrying capacity. There are several diff

Because Math 3 now has drag & drop on the final exam, students need the practice. So, I created one using Google Slides. It went over really well!  While this only took the students about 40-45 minutes to complete, it took me about 2 days to create this activity. Oh well, at least it is cute! :) I used Google Drawings to create the scene and took a screenshot of the drawing to post as the background in Google Slides. This worked so that students could only move the answers.  I created this for an Honors class and one of the problems (#5 - the one pictured) really stumped the kiddos. I loved it! They kept thinking that x - 1 was not part of the common denominator...they didn't realize that they needed to simplify after subtracting. It really made them think!   When they were finished, they shared it with me! I really think that this helped the kids get more practice on drag & drop while working on adding and subtracting rational expressions!  Here is the ac

Have you ever created an activity- spent HOURS making it perfect- and completely messed it up in front of the students?  That's what happened to me with this Polynomials Zeros Drag and Drop. Oddly, it turned into one of the best days I've had with this class! Here's what went down day of the activity: I sent the students the wrong link.  Of course.  Instead of sharing the student version, I sent them the teacher version.  It was heartbreaking!  The sweet kiddos told me the answers were already on the slides.  I panicked (slightly) and tried to correct my mistake, but you can't unring a bell!  So we went with it.   Luckily, my students are used to showing all of their work, and they did.  It was actually pretty nice that they could check themselves as they worked.  And they worked.  I was truly amazed how much effort they put into this assignment.   The activity itself has students solving polynomial functions for zeros- in whichever manner they can remember.

I love creating reviews that go deeper than a worksheet, and Breakouts are great at accomplishing this feat- plus they have the added bonus of critical thinking and collaboration.  This particular Breakout is digital, but also has some paper/pencil components to accompany it. I begin with this crossword puzzle to get the students looking into vocabulary words and phrases associated with exploring density curves.  They must also solve this word search in order to open a lock. Once students start exploring the Univariate Breakout website, they will find additional review items that lead them to clues to open locks on the Google Form.  Once all locks are open, they're done! If you're interested in trying this in your AP Statistics class, you'll need the following links (as well as the previous links): Website for students Teacher notes with answers and hints As always, I suggest you try completing this before you giv e it to the students! ~ssb

This opening-day activity was shared with me at a PD several years ago, the original (I think) version is located here - thanks to NCSSM for sharing! The stem of the activity is derived from the 2007 AP Statistics Exam Question 5. I did not really change the original format, but I like this activity for many reasons: It gets the students talking about graphs and numerical summaries from the beginning Students are able to jump in with simulations and collecting data We create our first dotplot as a class- they see that they already know a lot about this course We find and interpret a p-value... even though they don't know it yet! The class can see a computer created simulation and we get to compare it to ours My kiddos get used to working in a collaborate manor  Thanks for reading! ~ssb

I created this a couple of years ago when Hunger Games was really popular. However, I thought that I would share with all of you in case you wanted to use or revamp to something newer.  I created 12 groups for the 12 districts. They decided what their name would be as a district. They had tasks each day to accomplish. The tasks were just multiple choice questions centered around the major topics of Calculus AB. This took a lot longer than I thought - about 4 days. I was forced to give them more than 15 minutes for each task (which did not make me happy since the AP exam is timed - Oh well.) I had the time, and it worked out.  You can decide how you want to the points to work, I gave them 2 points for each correct answer. It was very easy to grade as this is the student worksheet. They placed the letter of the answer in each spot.  I made them show all work on another student sheet so that I could see what we needed to review.  Each day, I would post the new rankin

I have posted a lot of murder mysteries already, but this one is a little different.  I created 6 cards with questions about the Area between 2 curves. I created two sets so that I would have groups of 12. When I made the copies, I created two different colors so that students wouldn't get confused. Students moved around in their selected color groups and answered the questions. Once they found the answer, they eliminated the suspect, murder location, or murder weapon. I cut out the options so they can dispose of those that they have found with an answer. The cards that remained indicated the murderer, weapon, and the location.  I should have taken some pictures of my kiddos when they were working, but this year has been crazy! I'll try to add some next semester!  Click HERE for the activity. You can always change the names to teachers in your school.  I have created a digital version for this activity: Grab it  HERE. ~RJ

I knew that my kids needed more work on Law of Sines, so I created this HyperDoc to help out with the Ambiguous Case. I gave this assignment to the students the day after teaching the Ambiguous Case, so they were still new to the whole idea. However, I think it was a success!  The first part of the assignment is to watch a video on edpuzzle. (next year, I might have students answer questions, just didn't have that much time this year.) Second part is to use an interactive GeoGebra site to create 0, 1, or 2 triangles. They must take a screenshot of each type. Then solve with the dimensions that created 2 triangles. I also created a matching Desmos activity for students to screenshot once finished. The last portion is to create their own triangle using a protractor, whiteboard, and a ruler. Then they must determine if the dimensions will even create a triangle or maybe 2.  The students used an iPad or their own phones to take pictures of their work to paste back on the HyperD

Our school has embraced STEM over the past few years. That's actually our signature program. While, I am not a STEM teacher, I feel that it is important to incorporate those topics into my classroom.  I originally got the idea from this site  in which you have to be a member. I actually created an introduction as a Desmos activity using their resources. So the students start off by finding the area of a beach. (We live at the beach, so this works perfect for my kiddos.) This introduction allows the students to use any shapes to estimate the area since we haven't had any instruction on Riemann Sums or Trapezoidal Rule. Then I teach the students about these estimation tools.  So, from that introduction, I got the idea to create a project. The students must find an aerial picture of a beach that has eroded. (Some students actually found pictures from our beaches.) They had to research coastal erosion and how it affects our community, and find some solutions to stop or slow d

After finding out that North Carolina has invited Desmos into our online testing, I was super excited!  This will help with desk space, attention (since Desmos is fun and interactive), as well as scores (I'm hoping).  Of course students are still allowed to use their TI-84's... for those who've used them since they were invented- like I have.   What does Desmos bring to the Math 3 EOC party?  Lots of fun and handy tools!  To help my students (and anyone reading this) with what they can expect, I created this Desmos tutorial from the released NC Math 3 EOC.   During class, I had each student login to their own school account and go through the Desmos activity individually.  Of course, they were allowed to help each other and I also circulated to answer any questions.  To make life a little easier, I created this document that I paper-copied and gave to each student so they wouldn't have to go back and forth between screens (the only downfall I could find while crea