NY Next Generation Math NY-6.SP.1.b
The Standard
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 sample are valid only if the sample is representative of that population.
New York State Next Generation Mathematics Learning Standards
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use information from a sample to make a claim about a larger population. They decide whether the claim is valid by asking if the sample represents the population in question.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student explains why surveying students from every grade can represent the school better than surveying only one team. The student limits a conclusion when the sample leaves out important parts of the population.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may assume any large sample is representative or generalize from volunteers who share one interest. They may also confuse the sample with the entire population.
How to Assess It
- A principal wants to learn whether all students like the new lunch menu. Ask which is more representative: 40 cafeteria diners or 40 students sampled across grades, and why.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Draw samples from a bead-filled bag, compare each sample with the full color mix, and discuss which samples represent the population.
Ask students whether an online fan poll can represent every student in a school, requiring a reason tied to the sample.
Sort survey scenarios into representative or not representative, then revise one weak sample so its conclusion is more credible.
Plan a school lunch survey and identify which groups must appear in the sample before making a schoolwide claim.
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Printable NY-6.SP.1.b Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to NY-6.SP.1.b, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- NY-6.SP.1.a
Recognize that a statistical question is one that anticipates variability in the data related to the question and accounts for it in the answers.
- NY-6.SP.1.c
Understand that the method and sample size used to collect data for a particular question is intended to reduce the difference between a population and a sample...
- NY-7.SP.4
Use measures of center and measures of variability for quantitative data from random samples or populations to draw informal comparative inferences about the po...
- NY-6.SP.2
Understand that a set of quantitative data collected to answer a statistical question has a distribution which can be described by its center, spread, and overa...
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