CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.A
The standard
Use random sampling to draw inferences about a population.
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics
What this standard means
Students need to understand that a sample can stand in for a larger group only when it is chosen randomly. They should collect or study sample data, use it to make a claim about a population, and explain how much trust to place in that claim.
Mastery looks like students spotting biased samples, comparing random samples, and using sample results to estimate population values. Students often get stuck thinking any small group counts as a sample, or that one sample gives a perfect answer. They also need practice using phrases like “about,” “likely,” and “based on this sample.”
Ways to teach it
- Have students draw 20 random cubes from a bag, record colors, and estimate the color mix of the whole bag.
- Ask students to write whether surveying only basketball players about school lunch gives a fair estimate for the whole grade.
- Give three sample methods and have students mark each as random, biased, or unclear with one reason.
- Use a short article with poll results and ask students who was sampled, how many, and what population the claim describes.
Plan a lesson for CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.A
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Related standards
- CCSS.Math.Content.HSS-IC.B.4
Use data from a sample survey to estimate a population mean or proportion; develop a margin of error through the use of simulation models for random sampling.
- CCSS.Math.Content.HSS-IC.A.1
Understand statistics as a process for making inferences about population parameters based on a random sample from that population.
- CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.A.2
Use data from a random sample to draw inferences about a population with an unknown characteristic of interest. Generate multiple samples (or simulated samples)...
- CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.A.1
Understand that statistics can be used to gain information about a population by examining a sample of the population; generalizations about a population from a...