Data
Analysis and Research Methods
Course Description and Syllabus
The Cereal Problem #2
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Part 1, Activity 2
This lesson is adapted from the
Engineering Data Analysis Class, Ford Motor Company
Key
Purposes:
- Students can state the need for replication
in a simulation because of variability.
- Students use averaging to reduce variability
in the determination of the center of the
distribution.
- Students can explain that changing the width
of the interval used to group data can change
the shape of the distribution and the
descriptive statistics of the grouped data.
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To see a Quick Time Movie of the Cereal Problem, Click the above image. File size may
be large, please allow enough time for the
download.
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Description:
The Cereal Problem
simulates a situation where customers collect six
different coupons from cereal boxes to receive a
prize. The exercise is motivated by a letter from
the marketing department stating that they need
help in deciding how costly this marketing scheme
would be. The students do simulations to determine
how many boxes must be purchased to get the six
different coupons. Data from each individual
simulation is recorded and used in a stemplot.
Students also report the average of the four
simulations which each of them did. The two
stemplots are compared to point out the tendency
of averages to cluster together more than
individual values. Students enter the data in
their TI-83’s and get summary statistics and
histograms. Students write a response to the
marketing department describing the simulation,
giving the results, using both summary statistics
and graphics.
Alignment
with Michigan Curriculum Framework:
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Mathematics
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Strand
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Standard
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Benchmark High School
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I
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Patterns,
Relationship, and Functions
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1
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3, 5
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III
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Data
Analysis and Statistics
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1
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1, 2, 3, 4
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III
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Data
Analysis and Statistics
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2
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1, 2, 3, 4, 5
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III
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Data
Analysis and Statistics
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3
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2, 3, 4, 5
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Science
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Strand
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Standard
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Benchmark High School
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English
Language Arts
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Strand
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Standard
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Benchmark High School
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Meaning and
Communication
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2
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1, 3, 4
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3
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6
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Language
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4
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1
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Skills and
Process
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7
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4
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Ideas in
Action
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10
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2
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