Monday, September 17, 2012

Day 6 - Data and Graphing with Excel

Plan
Bell Ringer! - using percentages

Lesson
  1. Calculating average obesity rate of the U.S.
  2. Data analysis of averages and weighted averages
Exit Ticket
  1. What did you learn?
  2. What was surprising?
  3. What else do you want to learn that is related to today's lesson?
  4. What were you most confused about?
  5. Are you still confused about it?
The big dilemma of the day was whether I should have the students hunt for the data themselves or should I just supply it for them. With the use of Excel, students had to analyze a fairly large amount of data. Sometimes, getting that data into Excel can be a headache. There inlies the dilemma.

I think that giving them the data does not allow for the use of certain Habits of Mind that are absolutely necessary for properly using Excel. These Habits of Mind include:
  • persistance
  • thinking flexibly
  • striving for accuracy and precision
  • questioning and posing problems
After talking with the stats teacher, I have decided to have the students hunt for the data themselves. Although this is not a standard, this soft skill is extremely important.

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