Gone in 30 Seconds

45 min

Teacher Prep
Setup
Groups of 4. Prepare a table large enough for all to see where groups can record their data.

Narrative

To close the unit, students practice using the methods they have learned. Students begin by collecting data in small groups and then analyzing the data for the entire class. They create a scatter plot and two-way tables to look for patterns in the data (MP2). Although it is expected there is a very weak, if any, association in the data, the discussion asks students to think about what it would mean if there were a positive or negative association in context.

Launch

Arrange students in groups of 4. Select one student from each group to submit the data from the group when they finish recording their data. Prepare a table for all to see that is large enough to include the data from all of the students in the class. 

Tell students that the same data is treated as both numerical and categorical data at different times within this activity. This is sometimes done when there is a threshold that makes sense for the context. In this case, it makes sense to look at data for which the second time is greater or less than the first time. Although the actual values may be lost when viewing the data as categorical, it can provide a different type of insight. In this example, we can more easily see if there was an improvement in reaction time for the second attempt.

Action and Expression: Internalize Executive Functions. To support development of organizational skills in problem-solving, chunk this task into more manageable parts. For example, collecting data, then organizing and representing the data, then categorizing it into the two-way tables, and looking for associations.
Supports accessibility for: Organization, Attention
MLR8 Discussion Supports. Prior to solving the problems, invite students to make sense of the situations. Monitor and clarify any questions about the context.
Advances: Reading, Representing

Student Task

In this activity, you’ll get 2 chances to guess at how long 30 seconds is, then look for an association between the 2 guesses of all students.

  1. Work with a partner. Follow the instructions listed here to gather your data.
    • One of you will hold a stopwatch where the other person cannot see it.
    • The person holding the stopwatch says “go” and starts the timer.
    • The other person says “stop” when they think 30 seconds have passed.
    • The person holding the stopwatch will stop the timer then report and record the time to the nearest second.
    • The person holding the stopwatch will give a second chance, repeating the experiment.
    • After both times are recorded, switch roles.

  2. Record the group data in this table. When you finish, a group member should give the data to the teacher.

    name time 1 time 2
  3. Look at your data. Comparing Time 1 to Time 2, do you think there is a positive association, a negative association, or no association? Discuss your thinking with your group.
  4. What are some ways you could organize and represent the entire class's data?

  5. Make a scatter plot of the entire class’s data and look for patterns. Identify any outliers and the type of any association you observe.

    A blank coordinate plane with 29 horizontal units and 21 vertical units.

  6. Draw 2 lines on your scatter plot: a vertical line and a horizontal line, each representing 30 seconds for one trial. Use the table for the class’s data to complete this two-way table.

    time 2 < 30 sec time 2 = 30 sec time 2 > 30 sec total
    time 1 < 30 sec
    time 1 = 30 sec
    time 1 > 30 sec
    total

  7. Use the two-way table to decide whether there is an association between Time 1 and Time 2. Explain how you know.

Sample Response

Sample response:

  1. No response necessary
  2. name time 1 time 2
    Jada 28 36
    Lin 37 29
    Diego 29 37
    Andre 35 29
  3. There appears to be a negative association. People who guessed too high the first time may have tried to stop sooner the second time, and people who guessed too low the first time may have waited longer to stop the second time.
  4. We could show the class data as a scatter plot to show both times at once. We could find the difference of each time from exactly 30 seconds and show that with separate histograms, dot plots, or box plots.

  5. <p>Scatterplot.</p>

    There appears to be no association in the class data. There aren't any outliers, because all of the data is in a cluster around the point (30, 30).
  6.  
    time 2 < 30 sec time 2 = 30 sec time 2 > 30 sec
    time 1 < 30 sec 2 1 9
    time 1 = 30 sec 1 0 1
    time 1 > 30 sec 2 1 9
  7. There is no evidence of association. The relative frequencies of one time greater and less than 30 seconds is about the same regardless of what the other time was.
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)

The purpose of the discussion is to solidify understanding of the strategies and tools from the unit. Specifically, how to organize and analyze categorical data to determine if there is an association between two variables.

Some questions for discussion:

  • “What representation (data table, scatter plot, two-way table, or something else) helped the most in determining any relationships between time 1 and time 2?”
  • “If someone's time was slower on the second attempt, how would that appear on the scatter plot?” (The point would be above and to the left of the line y=xy = x, since the value for the yy-coordinate would be greater than the value for the xx-coordinate like the point (1.2,1.4)(1.2, 1.4).)
  • “If there was a positive association between the variables, what would that mean?” (In general, the slower the first time, the slower the second time. Similarly, the faster the first time, the faster the second time.)
  • “If there was a negative association between the variables, what would that mean?” (In general, the slower the first time, the faster the second time. The faster the first time, the slower the second time.)
  • “If the class showed a tendency to overcompensate by going from a time that was longer than 30 seconds to one that was shorter, or the other way around, how would that appear in the two-way table?” (The numbers in the table would be greatest on the bottom left and top right of the table, with smaller numbers elsewhere.)
Standards
Addressing
  • 8.SP.A·Investigate patterns of association in bivariate data.
  • 8.SP.A·Investigate patterns of association in bivariate data.