Maryland Math 8.DS.A.1.a
The Standard
- 8.DS.A.1
- Evaluate predictions and conclusions drawn from bivariate data.
Determine whether observed associations in sample data justify generalizations about a broader population.
Maryland College and Career Ready Standards for Mathematics (2025) · MAKE SENSE OF STATISTICAL INQUIRY. NEW CLUSTER
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students find a pattern between two traits in sample data. They decide whether the people surveyed represent the larger group. They state which group the pattern might describe.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can describe a pattern in a two-way table and identify who was surveyed. They can explain why a random sample may support a broader claim, while volunteers from one club may not.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think a large sample represents everyone, even if it includes only volunteers. They may also treat a pattern as proof that one trait caused the other.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: In a voluntary poll of 40 basketball players, 24 of 30 who practice weekly and 2 of 10 who do not report high confidence. Does this support a claim about all eighth graders? Explain.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs cards marked with two traits, such as sports participation and sleep; compare the pattern in a random draw with a preselected draw.
Ask students to write whether a pattern found in one homeroom could describe every eighth grader, and explain who might be missing.
Play Sample or Stretch: show survey groups and claims about exercise and sleep; students hold up a choice and explain it.
Show a headline claiming a schoolwide link between screen time and sleep from a gaming club poll; have students rewrite the claim.
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Printable 8.DS.A.1.a Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 3.DS.A.1.c
Identify patterns in the data and evaluate whether these patterns might apply to different contexts or situations.
- 7.DS.A.2.a
Use data from a single random sample to estimate an unknown characteristic of a population.
- 7.DS.A.1
Determine when generalizations about a population are appropriate based on how the sample was selected.
- 7.DS.A.1.a
Decide whether a sample is representative of a population by explaining how it was selected and how that selection affects the accuracy of conclusions.
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