| Statistics
Statistics is a set of methods that are used to collect and analyze data.
Statistical methods help people identify, study, and solve many problems.
These methods enable people to make good decisions about uncertain situations.
Sample some of the following activities to learn more about statistics
Places To Go | People To See | Things To Do | Teacher Resources | Bibliography
Places To Go
The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out
about statistics.
Key
Crime & Justice Facts at a Glance
Spend time at the U.S. Department of Justice and check out their crime
statistics. It has interesting trend tables. Serious violent crime levels
are slightly declining. The rates for men and women who commit violent
crime are getting closer. In the past 30 years, the age group of homicide
victims has consistently been the highest in the 18-24 years of age range.
Have students do further research to explain these kinds of statistics.
Roller Coaster Database
American Coaster Enthusiasts
Statistics are vital for scientific and social research. But they also
provide valuable information for our everyday lives. If you're planning
a vacation, you can make a decision on where to go based on statistics.
If you love amusement parks, then you can travel to the states with the
most operating roller coasters. (California has the most).
People To See
National Football League
National Basketball Association
Women's National Basketball
Association
Major League
Baseball
National Hockey League
Chat with professional athletes. Sports teams love statistics.
Pioneer : Utah's Online
Library
Meet people in the United States who have the current "most popular" first
names. Every year, "someone" compiles the statistics for the most popular
male and female first names of the year. Have students locate that information
for 1999. The resources at UEN's Pioneer website, which include thousands
of full text magazines and periodicals as well as newspapers, would be
a good place to start.
Francis
Ysidro Edgeworth
Meet Francis Ysidro Edgeworth. He was a pioneer in developing many of
the statistical ideas used today.
Other influential mathematicians and scientists in the devlopment of statistics
were:
Things To Do
United
Nations: Infonation
Compare country statistics. Infonation is a fantastic site that lets you
select up to 7 worldwide countries and then select the statistics that
you want to compare. For example, among the countries of Australia, Peru,
Mozambique, United States, Sweden, and India---Australia has the lowest
population density, Mozambique has the highest adult illiteracy rate,
and the United States has the most threatened/endangered species.
United States Census
Bureau
Census
Activities
Every ten years, the United States conducts a census. The facts, figures,
and statistics gathered from the census are used to make countless governmental
decisions for America. The first U.S. census was done in 1790, and the
information was gathered by men riding on horseback and visiting each
of America's 13 states.
Have students compare the methods for information retrieval today. Have
students list some of the federal decisions that are made based on census
statistics. (By the way, in 1790, the population density of the U.S. was
4.5 people per square mile. In 1990, the population density was 70.3.
When the statistics from the 2000 census are compiled, what would students
predict U.S. population density might be in 2000?)
HyperStat
Online
Browse through this online textbook on statistics. It also has great links
to periodical articles about current trends in statistical sampling and
methods.
National
Center for Education Statistics
From this excellent site, educators can find current statistical data
about a variety of educational topics.
Ken
White's Coin Flipping Page
Have students explore statistics and probablility with virtual coin tossing.
ENC Online
In studying statistics, allow students to analyze actual italic this science
and math data collected by themselves and others.
The Data and
Story Library
DASL is an online library of datafiles and stories that illustrate the
use of basic statistics methods. Browse through from a wide variety of
topics and find real-world examples that will be interesting to students
studying statistics.
VassarStats
: Website for Statistical Computation
Compiling statistics often requires complex mathematical steps. Use this
website to perform statistical computations for you. Have students plug
in figures from this year's interesting elections to create statistical
situations.
Cast
Your Vote - Statistics
Complete the poll from this website's main page and then use the activities
on subsequent pages to integrate math, technology, and current events/social
studies.
Chance
Statistics are related to probability because as data is collected and
analyzed, it can be used to predict choices. This website outlines a program
whose goal is to make students more informed, critical readers of current
news stories that use probability and statistics. There are teaching aids
available for classroom use.
Immigration
and Naturalization Services : Statistics
Find the statistical information for immigrants to the U.S. for the years
1994-1999. In 1996, most immigrants to the U.S. came from Mexico. Immigrants
from the Philippines accounted for the next largest group. Have students
do research into historical trends of immigration. The United States is,
indeed, a great "melting pot". What other countries enriched America with
the greatest number of new residents during the 1880s? the 1900s? the
1920s?
Introduction
to Descriptive Statistics
According to this site, "Without statistics we couldn't plan our budgets,
pay our taxes, enjoy games to their fullest, evaluate classroom performance...".
So in other words, statistics are a necessary part of everyday life. Learn
more about this branch of statistics that is used by everyone on a regular
basis.
Federal Bureau
of Prisons : Quick Facts
57.9% of all federal prison inmates are white, 38.8% are black, 1.7% are
Asian, and 1.6% are Native American. Have students research whether or
not these percentages are reflective of the general ethnic population
breakdown in the United States. 92.6% of all federal prison inmates are
male. 7.4% are female. Is this reflective of the general populaton? Only
70% of federal prison inmates are U.S. citizens. Is this reflective of
the general population?
Create
a Graph
Learn how to create area, bar, pie and line graphs from the National Center
for Education Statistics. This interactive charting tool allows completed
graphs to be downloaded and/or printed.
Teacher Resources
Virtual Field Trips are teacher and student-created
tours of curricular topics. (You can learn how to use this UEN Virtual
Field Trip tool created by UEN for Utah educators).
Lesson Plans/Webquests
Bibliography
- Kirkby, David. Handling Data. Crystal Lake, IL : Rigby Interactive
Library, c1996.
- Phillips, John L. How To Think About Statistics. New York : W.H. Freeman,
c1999.
- Slavin, Steve. Chances Are : The Only Statistics Book You'll Ever
Need. Lanham, Md. : Madison Books : Distributed by National Book Network,
c1998.
- Smoothey, Marion. Statistics. New York : M. Cavendish, 1993.
- Sternstein, Martin. Statistics. Hauppauge, NY : Barron's Educational
Series, 1996.
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