Understanding Distributions of Data - Pet Food Manufacturing
Activity Description
Students will analyze raw data and graphical representations about businesses in each U.S. state that manufacture dog and cat foods. Students will use these various data formats to determine the center, shape, spread, and outliers of the data distribution.
Suggested Grade Level
6
Approximate Time Required
45-60 minutes
Learning Objectives
- Students will be able to describe a data distribution by its center, shape, spread, and outliers.
- Students will be able to compare different data formats (including graphs) of a data distribution.
Materials Required
- The student version of this activity, 19 pages
- Calculators
Activity Items
The following items are part of this activity. Items, their data sources, and any relevant instructions for viewing
the source data online appear at the end of the teacher version.
- Unsorted Raw Data, Dog and Cat Food Manufacturers by State, 2012
- Sorted Raw Data, Dog and Cat Food Manufacturers by State, 2012
- Dot Plot of Data
- Histograms of Data With Varying Intervals
- Box Plot of Data
- Dog and Cat Food Manufacturers With 0 to 4 Employees, by State, 2012
Teacher Notes
Blooms Taxonomy
Understanding
Students will understand different graphical representations of data sets and will analyze a data set’s center, shape, spread, and outliers.
Subject
Middle School Math
Topics
- Box plots
- Center
- Dot plots
- Histograms
- Outliers
- Shape
- Spread
Skills Taught
- Interpreting a data distribution using a graphical representation
- Comparing data distributions
Page Last Revised - October 8, 2021