South Carolina Academic Standards for Mathematics
8th Grade
Data Analysis and Probability
The student will demonstrate through the mathematical processes an understanding of the relationships between two variables within one population or sample.
Lessons (9)
Introduces students to plotting points on the Cartesian coordinate system -- an alternative to "Graphing and the Coordinate Plane."
Introduces conditional probability and the probability of simultaneous events.
Demonstrates the connections between formulas and graphs.
Introduces students to concepts that lead to probability.
Introduces students to simple probability concepts.
Students learn about probability by predicting the outcome of planned experiments and playing racing games.
Introduces students to stem-and-leaf plots and calculating the mean, median, and mode from the plots.
Introduces the normal distribution and looks at the bell curve controversy.
Considers probability problems with unexpected and surprising answers.
Activities (10)
Create a game spinner with variable sized sectors to look at experimental and theoretical probabilities. Parameters: Sizes of sectors, number of sectors, number of trials.
Choose one of N doors to experimentally determine the odds of winning the grand prize behind one of the doors, as in the TV program "Let's Make a Deal." Parameters: Number of doors, number of trials, staying or switching between the two remaining doors.
Compare theoretical and experimental probabilities, using dice, cards, spinners, or coin tosses. Three different probabilities can be compared at once. Parameters: Type of probabilities, number of trials.
Experiment with the outcome distribution for a roll of two dice by simulating a dice throwing game. Parameters: Which player wins with which total rolled.
Experiment with probability using a fixed size section spinner, a variable section spinner, two regular 6-sided dice or customized dice.
Learn about sampling with and without replacement by randomly drawing marbles from a bag. Parameters: Number and color of marbles in the bag, replacement rule.
Enter data and view the mean, median, variance, and standard deviation of the data set. Parameters: Number of observations, range for observations, which statistics to view, identifiers for the data.
PlopIt allows users to build dot plots of data using the mouse. View how the mean, median, and mode change as entries are added to the plot. Parameters: Range for observations.
Simulate a game where two players each roll a die, and the lucky player moves one step to the finish. Parameters: what rolls win and how many steps to the finish line.
View stem-and-leaf plots of your own data, and then practice finding means, medians and modes. Stem and Leaf Plotter is one of the Interactivate assessment explorers.