Sweet Tooth: Granola Bars or Candy?

Mathematics Learning Objectives:

● Students should be able to identify the shape of a data distribution, be able to
measure the center (mean, median) and the spread (interquartile range, standard
deviation).
● Students will be able to compare the center and spread of at least two different
data distributions.
● Students will be able to interpret differences in shape, center, and spread within
the context of the data set.

Language Objectives:
● Students will be able to compare and contrast the distributions of the two data
sets. This includes comparing the shape, center, and spread of the data.
● Students will be able to identify and describe the shape of the data as being
either linear or curved.
● Students will be able to understand and use the appropriate vocabulary when
discussing the center and spread of the data.
○ Key vocabulary: scatter plot, shifts, overlap, positive skew, negative skew,
tails of a distribution, mean, median, box plot, interquartile range, first
quartile, second quartile (median), third quartile, standard deviation,
● Students will be able to communicate their investigations and justify their
conclusions to their peers using the appropriate, key vocabulary listed above.
● This lesson will engage the students in exploring data about granola bars and
candy to discover which is more healthy, and identify any similar trends in the
data. Students will be able to do this by using the key vocabulary and finding
their appropriate values when applicable in the data sets.

Essential Question:
Generally are granola bars healthier or less healthy than candy? How does the
distribution of data for granola bars and candy differ in regards to shape, center, and
spread? Are there any similar trends or associations shared between the two data sets?

Common Core State Mathematics Standards:

NC.M1.S-ID.2 : Use statistics appropriate to the shape of the data distribution to
compare center (median, mean) and spread (interquartile range, standard deviation) of
two or more different data sets. Interpret differences in shape, center, and spread in the
context of the data sets.
 Materials:
● Computer or device able to access the internet, CODAP, and Padlet.
● Pen and paper for scratch work and ideas (optional)
● The provided worksheet: Guided Lesson - Sweet Tooth: Granola Bars or Candy
● Data sets: GranolaBars, Candy

Notes to the reader:

● Assume a 90 minute block for this lesson plan.
● Assume that students have at least a basic understanding of creating graphs and
analyzing categorical and quantitative data, such as identifying shape, center,
and spread of data.
● Assume that students are familiar with working in CODAP and Padlet.
● Students are encouraged to work in groups of 2, but this is optional. Groups can
be greater than 2 if there is a limitation on technology available.

Detailed Plan for Instructional Time

Time What is the teacher doing? (Be sure to include What are students doing? If they
questions the teacher will ask and academic are interacting with a technology
language supports and details of technologies tool or other materials, please
or other materials used) describe.

10 Introduce task:
min Say, “Would you rather have a granola bar or a
candy bar? Why? Do you think one is more healthy
than the other?”
Ask, “Who can tell me the steps of the investigation
process that we’ve been learning about?”
Students will be engaging with the
teacher as they introduce the task.
Students will be able to answer the
teacher’s questions about the
investigation process in statistics.

Say, “Yes! The 4 steps are to pose questions,
collect data, analyze the data, and interpret the
data. Remember that these steps don’t always
occur in the same order. And we might have to
repeat some steps if we have new questions or if we
don’t find what we want to know at first.”
Students will brainstorm questions
that they will want to investigate.
Students will get into groups or two,
if they choose to. Then students will
begin exploring the data sets.

Say, “Take 5 minutes to start brainstorming

questions that you might want to investigate. Think
about what trends or associations might be shared
between granola bars and candy.”
 **students can work in groups of 2 or alone, if they
choose. You can let students pick their groups or
partner students based on the types of questions
they want to investigate.**

**pass out the guided lesson worksheet to students.

Either one per student or one per group. Ask
students to get out computers/devices if not out
already.**

Say, “Alright, get into your groups and start your

investigations!”

10 Checking understanding:
min **Optional: ask these questions at the beginning, Students will be answering the
mid-way through the lesson, or periodically teacher’s questions that check
throughout the time that students are investigating student understanding of the
the data to check student understanding and investigation process, shape,
monitor student progress!** center, and spread of data.
Students will also be able to identify
Ask, “Who can tell me the measurements we look at important concepts to keep in mind
first when we’re given a new data set? In other while they investigate the data.
words, what do we want to find?”
Possible student answers:
Say, “Exactly! We typically start out with identifying “We want to find the mean and
the shape of our data and then finding the center by median of the data, also known as
finding the mean and median. Then to find the the center.”
spread, we want to look at the interquartile range of
the box plot and the standard deviation of our data!” “We want to find the spread of the
data. We can find this by looking at
Ask, “Who can tell me some important things to the interquartile range of the box
keep in mind during our investigations?” plot and by looking at the standard
deviation.”
Say, “That’s right! We want to remember the context
of the data sets. We also want to remember that “We have to remember to make
there is variability between our data sets and what interpretations while keeping in
the true distribution is.” mind the context of the data.”

Ask, “What types of variables are you looking at? “We also have to remember that the
What types of graphs are you creating?” data collected is just a sample or a
small picture of the whole
population of granola and candy

40 Student investigations:
min **Teacher should be monitoring student progress
and answering student questions as they arise.**
**Teacher can ask the checking understanding
questions, as written in row above, during this time
to make sure students know what to do.**
Say, “Remember to screenshot associations you
find in the data so that you can use them in your
justifications in your discussion posts later!”
20 Discussion time:
min **The teacher can start a class discussion about
student findings regarding associations and any
distribution trends identified.**
**Optional: This discussion can be done within the
class or online using Padlet.**
Say, “Alright students, it’s time to discuss our
findings! We’re going to be using Padlet to share
what we found about associations in granola bars
and those in candy.”
Say, “Take about five to ten minutes to create your
padlet post and answer the discussion questions.
Be sure to justify your conclusions!”
**The teacher could be reading through the posts
that students add to the Padlet.**
**The teacher could select students to explain their
answers in more depth to the class, or to
demonstrate the strategies used in their
investigations. If this is done then the teacher could
bars.”
“We looked at bar graphs when
dealing with categorical variables,
and scatter plots if we work with
quantitative data.”
Students will be exploring the data
sets in their groups. Students will be
investigating the questions they
brainstormed at the beginning of the
lesson, as well as new questions
they have as they analyze the data.
Students will use the provided
worksheet to guide them in their
investigations. This can be found in
Appendix C.
Students will be answering the
discussion questions on the Padlet
link.
Students will discuss their findings
and justify their conclusions.
Students will also discuss
distribution trends and associations
that they found.
 help bring students to a higher understanding by
ordering the presentations in increasing
complexity.**

**Or the teacher could ask students if any group

wants to show the class an interesting association
they found.**

10 Review:
min **This is extra time for the teacher to answer
additional questions students might have that
weren’t addressed in the discussion.**

**This section is also buffer time in case some

sections take more time.**

N/A Common misconceptions: The common misconceptions that

Misconceptions to be aware of that students might
have
students might have is the
skewness of a distribution and the
difference between the median and
mean.
When multiple variables are being
displayed on the same graph, it is
also easy to get confused about
which one to compare in relation to
which.

Appendix:
A) Data Sets
● Granola Bar Data
○ https://codap.concord.org/releases/latest/static/dg/en/cert/index.htm
l#file=googleDrive:1pxjWRzVqqDgG1ipHDZS9vnZUqX7wofaL
● Candy Data
○ https://codap.concord.org/releases/latest/static/dg/en/cert/index.htm
l#file=googleDrive:1RJxjIWGlJKinS2zorLOYRoD9iUaaONS6
B) Online Resources
● CODAP
○ https://codap.concord.org/
● Padlet for Discussion
○ https://padlet.com/lhlin/iwo9w03ac13v
C) Guided lesson worksheet link
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KYnkXjgzd1Ghe_JLABR8yKU6_C7uuRsyf
zjoGs01oBA/edit?usp=sharing
D) Worked out guided lesson worksheet with acceptable students answers link
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QAz-wllcXwl81bci1Z8gkHfGQQ_e90cD81
EyL5Tzchw/edit?usp=sharing