Guess+Your+Question

Back to Connections to Teaching and Examples

**Adapted From:** “Variables on Backs” in Garfield & Ben-Zvi (2008) **Reference:** Garfield, J., & Ben-Zvi, D. (2008). //Developing students’ statistical reasoning: Connecting research and teaching practice.// New York: Springer.
 * Guess Your Question **

**CCSS-M Content Standards:** 6.SP.4 and 6.SP.5 and leads into 6.SP.1, 6.SP.2, and 6.SP.3 **CCSS-M Practices:** 1, 2, 3 and 5

**Task:**
 * *Note: The Student Information Survey **** consists of 18 questions about topics that relate to middle school students. **
 * 1) Students are provided a copy of the survey to complete in class.
 * 2) Teachers tape an index card with a survey question number to the backs of the students. Students are instructed to not tell each other what number is on their back.
 * 3) Students are then given 5 to 10 minutes to circulate around the room. They will ask their classmates to look at their back and tell them the answer to the survey question but not to tell them which question it is.
 * 4) Students return to their seats and use the data to figure out which question is taped to their back. Students should make graphical representations to support their decision.
 * 5) Students then present their data, their representations and which question they believe “fits” their data.

**PD Agenda:** **Length of session:** 1 - 1.5 hours **Materials needed:**Index cards, tape, and ** **
 * *Note: Facilitator will model how the lesson should be carried out in the classroom with pedagogical discussions interwoven throughout. All time lengths listed below following each component of the activity are estimates and not strict time allotments. **
 * 1) Participants (teachers) are seated in groups of 4-6 to encourage discussion and collaboration.
 * 2) Facilitators pass out a copy of the survey and allow participants to complete it. (5 minutes)
 * 3) Participants complete the activity just as students would. (25 - 30 minutes)
 * 4) Facilitators circulate around the room monitoring, facilitating and selecting and sequencing solutions that they would like to highlight in the whole group discussion.
 * 5) Facilitators choose a few participants to present and support their findings. (5 - 10 minutes)
 * 6) Facilitators lead a whole group discussion using the following questions as a start: (20 minutes)
 * Which presentations do you agree/disagree with and why?
 * What challenges did you face completing this activity?
 * What challenges do you anticipate your students having?
 * What can you do as a teacher to overcome the students’ misconceptions and struggles? (Identified in previous question)
 * What did you like about this task? Not like?
 * Would you modify this task for your classroom? If so, how? If not, why?
 * 1) Facilitators review the session’s activities with the group and bring it to a close by emphasizing the key concepts (getting to know your data, providing evidence to support your argument, choosing appropriate visual displays of data, informal inference) discussed in the session. (15 minutes)

**Why the task would promote conceptual understanding of this topic and if it lays the foundation for other topics in statistics:** With this task, students learn the importance of understanding their data to be able to make statistical arguments and inferences. In addition, students have the opportunity to choose and construct appropriate representations of their data. This activity is an important beginning task to lay the foundation to develop informal statistical inference since students are making decisions and interpreting real world data.