CCSS.Math.Content.HSS-ID.A.3
The standard
Interpret differences in shape, center, and spread in the context of the data sets, accounting for possible effects of extreme data points (outliers).
Common Core State Standards for Mathematics
What this standard means
Students need to compare data sets by describing shape, center, and spread in plain context. They should use words like skewed, symmetric, clustered, variable, median, mean, range, and IQR when they help explain what is going on.
Mastery looks like a student saying which group is typical, which group varies more, and how an outlier changes the story. Common trouble spots are naming a feature without interpreting it, using the mean when the median fits better, or ignoring one extreme value that pulls the data.
Ways to teach it
- Give pairs two dot plots of test scores and sticky notes to label shape, center, spread, and any outliers.
- Ask students to write: Which data set is more consistent, and what evidence from the graph supports your answer?
- Show a box plot with one extreme value and ask students to choose mean or median, then explain why.
- Compare home prices in two neighborhoods using a small table, including one mansion sale as an outlier.
Plan a lesson for CCSS.Math.Content.HSS-ID.A.3
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Related standards
- CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.B.5d
Relating the choice of measures of center and variability to the shape of the data distribution and the context in which the data were gathered.
- CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.B.5c
Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any over...
- CCSS.Math.Content.6.SP.A.2
Understand that a set of data collected to answer a statistical question has a distribution which can be described by its center, spread, and overall shape.
- CCSS.Math.Content.HSS-ID.A.2
Use statistics appropriate to the shape of the data distribution to compare center (median, mean) and spread (interquartile range, standard deviation) of two or...