Supplies Needed: Large Poster for Class Stem and Leaf Plot, Square Post-It Notes, Poster

Stem and Leaf Plots SCMP Summer 2008

How many miles do you live from here?

Ø  On a post-it note, record your name and number of miles from here on the bottom in small print.

Ø  In LARGE print, record the ONES DIGIT in the middle of the post-it.

Ø  Place your post-it in the appropriate place on the stem-and-leaf plot.

During the school year how many hours in a month, outside of school time, do you spend planning/preparing/grading?

Ø  On a post-it note, record the number of hour you spend in a month on the bottom in small print.

Ø  In LARGE print, record the ONES DIGIT in the middle of the post-it.

Ø  Place your post-it in the appropriate place on the stem-and-leaf plot.

Supplies needed: Large poster for class STEM AND LEAF PLOT, square post-it notes, poster pens and smaller individual version of the stem and leaf plot.

Ø  Create a class stem and leaf plot on large poster paper for a numeric question of your choice. (i.e. How many miles do you live from school? How many hours a week do you watch TV?, How many sodas do you drink in a month?)

Ø  Give each student a post-it note and have them record their name and their numeric answer at the bottom of the post-it in small print. Then have them place the ONES DIGIT of their numeric answer in large print in the middle of the post-it.

Ø  Have the students place their post-it notes on the class stem-and-leaf plot. Check students as they place their post-it notes and intervene where necessary. Do not insist the students organize the numbers in ascending order, yet. Rather, discuss why ordering the numbers in some manner is helpful.

Ø  Have various students reorganize the date in ascending order and then record the results on their own individual stem-and-leaf plot.

Ø  Together discuss and find the indicated statistical landmarks and have the students record these on the class stem-and-leaf plots. (Minimum, maximum, range, mean, mode(s) and median)

Ø  To summarize ask the students questions such as the following:

1.  What are the numbers along the first row? Second row? Third row? Etc.

2.  How many answers are greater than __?

3.  How many answers are less than __?

4.  Can you determine the minimum or maximum from this plot? Explain.

5.  Can you determine the range? Describe how you found it.

6.  Can you determine the mode? Describe how you found it.

7.  Can you determine the median? Describe how you found it.

8.  Suppose that the highest score was __ instead of __. Would the median score change? Which statistical landmarks would change? Explain.

9.  What do we call a data value such as __, which is far less or far greater than the other values?

10.  Where is your answer in this plot?

11.  Is your answer near the minimum?

12.  Which is closer to your answer, the maximum or the mode?

13.  How does your answer compare with the median?

14.  Make three statements about the data. (i.e. _____ percent of the people live within 2 miles of the school.)

15.  How do you think the data on our plot would compare to data from a school in the country? Support your answer with examples and an explanation.

1