LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Bias sampling

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?DocID=254

A lesson plan for Grades 3–5 Mathematics

Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science

About this resource

Appropriate grades
3–5
Subjects
mathematics (probability, statistics), thinking skills (critical literacy, higher order thinking)
Provider
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Legal

Creative Commons License

This catalog record is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. This license applies to the content of this page only and does not apply to the referenced website.

In this lesson, students learn to demonstrate how the results of a poll or other scientific study can be biased by selecting special types of people to respond or by asking only certain questions. Prior to this lesson, students should have had the opportunity to sort and classify materials. This activity demonstrates that sometimes, a representation of a group does not provide an accurate picture of the whole group. The lesson begins with a quick poll of the class about something fun, and students are challenged to consider the results of the class vote. Then, students conduct their own survey about how much homework time is appropriate for them to have. Students work in collaborative groups to complete specific tasks for the activity. The goal of this lesson is to get students to think about bias as related to polls and studies. Science NetLinks provides student handouts, discussion questions, and links to lesson plans similar to this one.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

Mathematics (2004)

Grade 3

  • Goal 4: Data Analysis and Probability - The learner will understand and use data and simple probability concepts.
    • Objective 4.01: Collect, organize, analyze, and display data (including circle graphs and tables) to solve problems.

Grade 4

  • Goal 4: Data Analysis and Probability - The learner will understand and use graphs, probability, and data analysis.
    • Objective 4.01: Collect, organize, analyze, and display data (including line graphs and bar graphs) to solve problems.

Grade 5

  • Goal 4: Data Analysis and Probability - The learner will understand and use graphs and data analysis.
    • Objective 4.01: Collect, organize, analyze, and display data (including stem-and-leaf plots) to solve problems.