During this 2 hour lesson, students will complete a survey, form hypotheses about the correlation between two variables, use statistics software to analyze data, and interpret their results. After this, they will create their own surveys, collect data, analyze it, and interpret the correlation on their own. This should be done after students have completed a textbook reading on correlation for homework.
The attached survey contains 5 questions but only these 2 are used for analysis: students are asked how old they were when they got their first cellphone and how old they think a person should be when they first get a cellphone.
Note: these two variables were selected to demonstrate a positive correlation, but other questions could be used instead.
Materials:
- Survey (attached in lesson plan)
- Worksheet (attached in lesson plan)
- Board with chalk/dry erase markers
- Free Jamovi software with Scatr plugin installed on lab classroom computers on students’ own laptops. NOTE, most schools will have to ask the IT Dept to install this because many prevent software downloads by students (and sometimes faculty) on school computers.
