Assignment: 2 graphs of class data, 1 observation
Yes, many of you were totally boggled by today's lesson! That's a GOOD thing, trust me. (it's hard to trust someone who just threw too much information at your brain, yes?)
So, what follows is what you need to do tonight.
And it's OKAY if you make mistakes, just put in your best effort. ;-)
1) Class Coin Data Histogram
This is the tedious, yet simple, illustration of all of the coins in your class period.
*Have the blank white space at the top of your page.
*Write the graph title and scale (1 box = 1 coin) and your name in the white space.
*Across the bottom of your page, mark the years.
*Up the left hand side of your page mark the number of coins; go up to 30.
*Fill in the bars with the CLASS data from your period. Those numbers are available HERE for Period 1 and HERE for Period 2 if you have lost them.
*This may be in one, two, three, or 50 colors, it's up to you.
2) Box Plot
This is the complex graphing of 5 numbers that probably doesn't make sense to you yet. Shall I repeat, that's OKAY?!? The point is that you are going to create this graph using the 5 numbers I give you and see what you can figure out.
*Above your histogram yet below the white space, you will create the box plot. It will lie across your page from left (2013) to the oldest coin point (using the data from your class) on the right.
*You will need the 5-number summary from YOUR class period that I created for you. For those 5 numbers click HERE.
*If you would like to see again what a box plot looks like, click HERE. That's the general picture; all box plots look about the same (shape), but come in different sizes depending upon the data you are using. This is one of the things you should try to figure out, by the way ... if it's in quarters, why aren't they all the same size? Hmmm...
*You will connect the dots on the 5-number summary: 2 whiskers (one at each end) and a box that is divided in half by the median (3rd) number. For more detailed directions on how to do this, click HERE.
That's really it for that. Box plots are quick and simple to draw once you get the hang of them. Now comes the tougher part ...
3) Your Observation(s)
At this point, you may have no idea what you created on your page, but hopefully you noticed some things while you did the work. What I want you to do now is tell me what you THINK you did. I will tell you that the data in your histogram and the box plot is the SAME ... so why do they look so different? What do their shapes tell you? What do you think you see, or, what don't you see? What do the quartiles represent? Etc. I promise you that box plots will not only become very useful to you, you will eventually find them easy to read and interpret ... but they have their limits and you need to understand them.
So, let me know what you're thinking. "I don't know," or "I don't understand," aren't acceptable observations. What do you THINK you see?!?!? You are seeing something whether or not you understand it, so take your best shot. We will discuss these tomorrow in depth and I bet you will figure out more than you think you know.
*This should be in paragraph form and should contain as much information as you think is relevant.
*This is an effort based assignment: truly try and you'll be fine. Give up easily or toss it aside and you won't be stretching your brain enough to grow. Go for it!
Due Thursday
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