We are inundated with information: about our health, about our leisure activities, about sports and so much more. Information is just information. It is our responsibility to process that information and to use it wisely. That is one of the reasons we study data analysis. We need to not only evaluate this information, but also to base personal decisions on evidence (data). We also need to see the dangers of acting on decisions that are not supported by the evidence. The question then becomes, “How do we get that evidence?” Of course the answer is by analyzing the data that we are using to make those decisions.

QuizBus: Dealing with Data will help students in Grades 4-8 have practice with collecting data, presenting it in an understandable fashion, analyzing the data through graphing, identifying ways data can be distorted and looking at both arithmetic and geometric probability (area models). This multimedia package contains five videos, a teacher guide and a Web site, http://WesternReservePublicMedia.org/quizbus.

Videos
The Treatment
QuizBus: Dealing with Data is patterned loosely after the TV program “Cash Cab.” The actual quiz show takes place in a school bus. At the start of the program, the bus arrives at a school and agents exit it in search of “contestants” — four math teachers. The contestants are led from the classroom to the QuizBus, which has an on-camera quiz master and an announcer/sidekick, the bus driver. The game begins on the bus, where the quiz show host asks a preliminary question or poses a problem that each of the four contestants tries to answer.

Round 1: In this round, the two teams who answer correctly move on to Round 2.

Round 2: The two remaining teams compete in a head-to-head question-and-answer match. One of these two teams will be eliminated, leaving a final contestant to answer in the program champion round.

Champion Round: The remaining team correctly answers a championship question.

The Content
Video 1
This package includes information on the following:

• The dangers of acting on decisions not supported by evidence

• The basic tenets of teaching data analysis

• Graphs and how to interpret them

• Measures of center and spread (mean, median, mode, range, etc.

• Categorical vs. measurement data

• Continuous vs. discrete data

Video 2
The following types of plots are discussed:

• Line plot

• Bar graph

• Histogram

• Circle plot (pie graph)

Video 3
The following types of plots are discussed:

• Stem-and-leaf

• Box-and-whisker

• Scatter

• Lines of best fit

Video 4
Students use experiments and surveys to determine the following:

• What question they want answered

• What the outcome might be

• What the population and sample are, and how to find them 

• What the process is for gathering data

• What plots can be used to show the data

• What conclusions can be drawn from the plots

• What changes could be made if they did this project again

• How to present their data

 
Video 5
Probability lessons are covered using the following:

• Arithmetic

• Geometry

The Teacher Guide
The teacher guide is divided into four sections:

1. Teacher pages give complete instructions on how to conduct the lessons. Each lesson is keyed to Ohio standards in mathematics.

2. Student handouts offer easy access to materials that can help the students complete the projects.

3. Resource pages can be used by either teachers or students to get more information on a topic.

4. Data standards are listed for each grade level and include the corresponding lessons that meet each indicator.

The Basic Tenets of Teaching Data Analysis
The lessons in the teacher guide are built around the basic concepts listed below.

1. Recognize the need to base personal decisions on evidence (data).

2. See dangers of acting on decisions that are not supported by the evidence.

3. Understand that tables of data can be viewed in a more simple or readable format through the use of a graph.

4. Become aware of the fact that graphs can be misleading if data is not accurately portrayed.

5. Know that there is more than one way to solve a problem.

6. It is important to use real (and relevant) data.

7. Emphasis should be on good examples which lead to intuition.

8. Project work is important. Students need to recognize the difficulty in asking the “right question.”

9. Variability is ubiquitous (ever present).

10. Always use appropriate vocabulary.

11. Technology can be used, where appropriate.

The QuizBus Web Site
The QuizBus Web site, http://WesternReservePublicMedia.org/quizbus, offers the project videos in a streaming format. The videos can also be downloaded. The complete teacher guide is onthis site, as well as other games and activities that are not included in the teacher guide.

Credits

Project Coordinator
Maria Mastromatteo, Western Reserve Public Media

Teacher Guide
Design Team
Theresa Boyle, Crestwood Local School District

Abby Jurkovic, Streetsboro City School District

Lori Smith, Springfield Local School District (Summit Co.)

Kristy Welsh, Canton City School District

Layout and Design
Paula Kritz, Western Reserve Public Media

Video
Produced by Western Reserve Public Media (WNEO/WEAO, Youngstown/Akron, Ohio)

Executive Producer
Maria Mastromatteo, Western Reserve Public Media

Producer
Duilio Mariola, Western Reserve Public Media

Videographer
Duilio Mariola, Western Reserve Public Media

Script
Larry Chance, Chance Productions

Web
Layout and Design
Paula Kritz, Western Reserve Public Media

Funding
This series was funded by the Ohio Legislature through the eTech Ohio Commission.