Introduction
In Math class, we will work through a unit on polling. During this unit, you will need to use knowledge and skills that we learned earlier in the year. Creating and interpreting graphs, finding measures of central tendencies, and forming fractions and percents will all be a part of this unit.
The Task
This week you will complete three main activities. To start off, we will conduct a poll about how many brothers and sisters each student has in our class. In order to review the skills needed for the rest of the unit, we will analyze and graph the data as a class. Next, you will create your own poll. You will poll fifty seventh graders, graph your data, and find measures of central tendencies. The final activity of this unit involves analyzing some campaign data found on the Internet for the 1996 Presidential Election.
Resources
The resources you will need this week in math are graph paper, and access to the Internet.
The Process
(Complete #1-4 with the class.)
- Organize the class data on the number of siblings into a chart showing how many students have only one child in their family, two children in their family, three children in their family, or four or more children in their family.
- Form a fraction and percent for each number of siblings.
- Find the range, mean, median, and mode for the class data.
- Create a circle graph showing the percent of the class that has each number of sibling.
- Decide on a survey topic. Look at the example topics sheet to help you with some ideas.
- Choose four or five response categories to limit the answers you may get. One of the possible responses may be "undecided" or "other" if you feel this is appropriate.
- Survey fifty seventh graders. Organize your data into a chart to make the data easy to work with.
- Form a fraction and percent for each response category.
- Find the range, mean, median, and mode for your data when appropriate.
- Display your data in a circle graph.
- Write a paragraph analyzing your data. Which response category was picked the most? Which was picked the least? Was the data pretty balanced or were there any extreme values? Were you surprised at the results? Why?
- Working with a partner, complete the Election '96 activity.
Election '96
Today you and your partner will be analyzing some data and polling results for the 1996 Presidential Campaign. You will be given several web sites to look at and a series of questions and activities to complete. To complete this activity, you and your partner will need some notebook paper and graph paper to use as answer sheets, as well as a computer with Internet access. When finished, you and your partner will turn in a group answer sheet which should answer the questions clearly. Be sure to label all your numbers. You will receive a group grade on this activity.
You will need to look at the following websites in order to complete this activity:
The following are questions and activities to be completed by you and your partner:
- According to the U.S.News nationwide poll, what are the percentages of people who would vote for Bill Clinton and Bob Dole? To answer this question, look near the end of the document for the Harris Poll.
- Make a table that displays state-by-state the most recent voting percentages for both Clinton and Dole from California, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Louisianna, and Arizona. You will need to carefully interpret the graphs from each state in order to determine the percents.
- Which state has the largest difference in percent? Which has the closest?
- Find the mean, median, and mode for each candidate's voting percentages. Show your calculations.
- Which measure of central tendency comes closest to the national percentages from Question 1?
- Pick one of the states from Question 2. Make a circle graph which displays the percent of people who vote for Clinton and Dole. Any left over percents should be labeled "other".
- Imagine that you are running for President. What kinds of things would you spend campaign funds on? How much money would you need to run a good campaign?
- Make a table showing the nine major categories campaign money is spent on, and how much Clinton and Dole spent on each category.
- Out of Clinton and Dole, which candidate spent more money on advertising? Is this the same canidate who had the highest voting percentage on the nationwide poll? Why do you think this is?
- Clinton and Dole are the two major candidates for President. Look at the graph of campaign spending. Out of all the candidates, who spent the most? Have you heard of this candidate?
Evaluation
This week you be graded on how well you took notes on the poll we completed as a class about the number of siblings. Your work should be complete and easy to read. A major part of your grade this week will be based on your own student survey. You should turn in a packet which includes the following: a chart which summarizes your data and shows a fraction and percent for each response category; the range, mean, median, and mode for your data and how you calculated them; a graph which displays your data; and a paragraph analyzing your data. The grade for the Election '96 activity will based on your group work. Be sure that both you and your partner contribute evenly.
