Day 137 Interquartile Range

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.SP.5 Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context, such as by: a. Reporting the number of observations. b. Describing the nature of the attribute under investigation, including how it was measured and its units of measurement. c. Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall pattern with reference to the context in which the data were gathered. d. Relating the choice of measures of center and variability to the shape of the data distribution and the context in which the data were gathered.

The Learning Objective: Determine the interquartile range of a data set

Quote of the Day: It's about remaining mentally and emotionally balanced all the time, no matter what is taking place around you. You never want to show your opponent a weakness through your words, facial expressions, or body language. No matter what they are saying to you, no matter what the crowd is chanting, if you can show poise you demonstrate to your opponent that they cannot rattle you. - Coach K

Agenda:

1. Jumpstart with Bethel's grade (he took 9 tests, so find what happens if he gets a 100 on his tenth test or a 0 on his 10th test). I also collected the students' Plan-A-Party work
2. Pass out Weekly Quiz #23
3. Refresh students on what the range and outlier are by having them kinesthetically show what the range is.
4. Get students to think about range and outlier as they apply to sports from the weekend (the Knicks and Magic combined for only 15 points in the 2nd quarter - a season low). 
5. Interquartile Range homework models (two)
6. Samantha's Family - students role played as a family went from 5 to 6 members during the entire time (the 94 year-old great grandfather, the 1 year-old baby, etc.) 
7. Gave ten minutes for students to start their homework which was 4 problems that asked students to find range and interquartile range of a data set. 

The Assessment: I checked all students first problem as they started the homework. As students role played I managed to cold-call every student on what the median or quartiles were in a given situation.

Glass Half-Full: Both the homework models and the homework itself help breakdown a complicated process one step at a time. I think it is much easier than our textbook breaks the process down for students. If you ask a college educated adult to find an interquartile range, I'm willing to guess that less than half can do it successfully. I think it's more than fair to outline each step to help the students get used to the multiple step nature of finding an interquartile range.

Students also love role-playing with Samantha's family. Everyone is dying to play a role in the family for whatever reason. It goes along with my theory that anything that deviates from the classroom norms is craved by the students. I really enjoy student enthusiasm as it makes my work much more rewarding. In fact I don't think the work would be rewarding at all without the enthusiasm of the class.

One Regret: Speaking of the Samantha's family activity, I think the classroom management aspect of this could have been better. The students enthusiasm unfortunately dwarfed the mathematical learning experience a little here. I could have done a better job of telling the students up front that they needed to respect my narration of the story and to participate not just as a "family member", but also as math students. This time of the year is always more challenging as the students comfort level with me grows and they become increasingly willing to push boundaries.