Lesson 4

The mathematical purpose of this lesson is for students to recall shapes of data distributions. In middle grades, students were introduced to the shapes of data distributions (bell-shaped, uniform, symmetric, bimodal, and skewed) and how to use the shapes to interpret characteristics of the data set. In the associated Algebra lesson, students describe distributions of data and describe the center of the distribution. In this lesson, students will distinguish between the various data distribution shapes, which will be useful in a later lesson when students create statistical questions from shapes of data. They will have a refreshed sense of how to interpret the data based on its distribution shape. Students engage in MP3 as they critique the statements provided about the shape of distributions.