Examples of what pupils should know and be able to do
How do pupils travel to school? Compare the median and range of the times taken to travel to school for two groups of pupils such as those who travel by bus and those who travel by car.
Which newspaper is easiest to read? In a newspaper survey of the numbers of letters per word in 100-word samples, compare the mean and the range.
| Newspaper type | Mean | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Tabloid | 4.3 | 10 |
| Broadsheet | 4.4 | 14 |
- Florida - Rtf (rich text format) document (136Kb)
- FTM(S) Y789 pp. 272–273 - Acrobat pdf document (44Kb)
Probing questions
Two distributions both have the same range but the first one has a median of 6 and the second has a mode of 6. Explain how these two distributions may differ.
Find five numbers that have a mean of 6 and a range of 8.
How did you do it?
What if the mean was 6 and the range 8?
What if the mode was 6 and the range 8?
What if pupils find this a barrier?
Ask pupils to consider the most sensible (average) measure to use; then model a comparison which exemplifies the probing question. Use discrete data at first. If pupils are not clear about what the mean, median and mode are showing them then go back to Step 5.
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