This was a great activity in class and it really showed us a good look into Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median and Mode. The measure of central tendency, in statistics, is a central or typical value for a probability distribution. We had a class of 22 participants, we each grabbed a handful (cubes), the lowest grabbing 6 cubes and the largest handful was 22 cubes (by the way this is referred to as the Range). We grabbed a total of 236 cubes all together in class.
A little Definitions:
Mean: Also called the average. Is best for numerical data without outliers.
Median: The middle value of a data set when ordered least to greatest. 1/2 the data is above the median and 1/2 the data is below the median and is not affected by outliers.
Mode: The most frequently occurring data point in the set. Can be used with categorical or numerical data.
 |
| My Beautiful Classmates |
 | |||
| More Beautiful Classmates |
We did this activity in class with cubes and we all chose our own cubes and grabbed what we wanted. Our Professor then set us loose to find other students with the same cubes and then set us loose again to find the median of the cubes, classmates were setting up in groups of 9,some trying to give away extra cubes and what we realized was the Median was 10 not 9 but it was a fun realistic activity to do and a great break the ice activity into measures of central tendency.
I had to share this video since I have a new love for Math Antics and it does a great job at describing all you need to know to get you rolling with Mean, Median and Mode! Also check out Central Tendency at A Maths Dictionary for Kids Jenny Eather has a great resource for teachers that is AMAZING and its for all Mathmatics check it out Jenny Eather Resources
Leave to Sammi to go big with a huge handful of cubes Lil Miss 22, *just teasin*,
Terri
