Sampling Statistics

by Tom March

Introduction · Activities · Rubric · Conclusion · Teacher's Guide

Introduction

'What does this subject have to do with me?' This is an important question students sometimes ask. In the following activity, you'll find links to Web sites related to the topic of Statistics. Choose some or all of the links and prompts below. See how you can make sense of statistics.

Here is a link that might help you.



Web Activities

Most Popular Movie - Last Year

  1. Look through the twenty most popular movies from last year.

  2. Choose the five that you liked the best.

  3. Click on each one and find the following information: genre, rating and production budget. Make a sector chart dividing the 'pie' into section for each genre.


The Numbers List of World Sales for Movies

  1. Look through the list of last week's most popular movies worldwide.

  2. Using the 'Cumulative Gross' column, figure out the average sales for the top five movies.

  3. Which movie is closest to this amount right now? Do you think it will go up the list or down?


Australia's favourite DVDs

  1. Scan the twenty-five top movies.

  2. Plot out a line going from 1999 to 2005 (space them evenly)

  3. Count up the number of movies in the top twenty-five for each year. Stack them up as a bar chart.


Top 10 Songs - iTunes Australia

  1. Look through the list of the top 10 songs sold on Australia iTunes this week.

  2. Count up which of the ten you like.

  3. What percentage of top songs sold in Australia do you like? extra figure out the average for your class.


Most Popular Names for Births in Australia (New South Wales) 2005

  1. Look through the list of the most popular names in New South Wales.

  2. Is your name on the list? If so, what number is it?

  3. How many names of people in your class are in the top 20 for either boys or girls? What percentage of classmates have 'popular names?'


Most Popular Names for Births in Canada (British Columbia) 2005

  1. Look through the list of the most popular names in British Columbia, Canada.

  2. Is your name on the list? If so, what number is it?

  3. Compare the New South Wales list and this British Columbia list. What percentage of names are on both lists? (use the top 20 from either boys or girls)


Gartner Research: Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales

  1. Scroll down the page to the table showing mobile phone sales by company.

  2. Which would you say is the most popular brand among your family and friends?

  3. Make a sector chart using the numbers from the column '4Q05 Market Share (%)' (what is '4Q05 Market Share (%)'?)


Alexa Rankings for Australia

  1. Look through the top ten Web sites viewed by Australians.

  2. Think about some categories to group the sites by (example: 'news' 'search' etc.)

  3. Make a bar chart showing which kinds / categories of sites are viewed by most Australians


Car Valuations

  1. Use the drop down menus to find a car you would like to buy.

  2. What is an average price for it? If a price range is given, what is the mean?

  3. How much value has the car lost since new? What percentage is this?


Global Rich List

  1. Use the drop down menu to select US Dollars or Pounds (which ever you are more familiar with)

  2. If you have an allowance, multiply it so you get a total amount for the year. If you earn money for jobs around the house, estimate these for the year.

  3. Enter the amount in field and see where you stand in terms of the richest people in the world.


A Little Perspective on $87 Billion

  1. Scroll through the page looking at how money can be represented by its size.

  2. Find the average income on the list for your region (Hume? Macarthur?)

  3. Multiply this amount by 30 (for 30 years of work). Now multiply this total by 15,000 (roughly the number of people living in the three main villages of the Southern Highlands). What fraction (or percentage) is this of the total $315 Billion?


Hiroshima Day BBs

  1. What was Hiroshima?

  2. Why do you think we have so many nuclear weapons?

  3. What would you do for the world if you had control of this money?


How Big is Space?

  1. Click through the series of slides, pausing occasionally to reflect.

  2. How big is human life in comparison to space?

  3. Does knowing humanity's true size make you feel bigger or smaller?


Secret Worlds: The Universe Within

  1. Watch the series from space to inside a cell.

  2. Do you think knowing about the vast or the microscopic is more important?

  3. What would you study if you had your choice?



Conclusion

By now you should have a better idea how this topic does relate to you. The Internet and traditional resources offer plenty of other choices to explore on the topic so why not follow your interests?


Web and Flow, by ozline.com created by Tom March
email: tom@ozline.com
http://web-and-flow.com/members/tmarch/stats/sampler.htm