Statistics 9-12
A fun run organized from the data up: shape, center and spread, the normal model, two-way tables, lines of fit and correlation, samples and simulation, probability rules, counting, random variables and expected value.
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Statistics
A free online high-school Statistics course for Grades 9 to 12: shape, center and spread, outliers and the normal model, two-way tables, scatter plots and least-squares lines, correlation and causation, samples and studies, simulation and margins of error, probability rules, counting, random variables and expected value, built around the Lantern Loop fun run the crew organizes.
About the series
Statistics is a free online high-school math course for Grades 9 to 12 that needs only graph paper, a stopwatch, a tape measure, index cards, a cloth bag of numbered tokens, a few coins and a spinner. Comet and Wren, the older crew, organize the Lantern Loop, the community center's first spring fun run, and every week's statistics makes a piece of Race Day work: practice lap times in dot plots and box plots, stretch times that bunch around a mean, sign-up cards sorted into a two-way table, weeks of practice against laps run, a sample of runners asked about the course, a pacing trial judged by simulation, two warm-up routines compared by shuffling, the lane draw and the volunteer draw from the bag, and the awards table built from expected value. Students study a worked example, answer questions whose answers are computed and checked, and keep a Run Log. The course maps week by week to the Common Core high-school statistics and probability standards, states no fact about the world beyond the crew's own data, and ends with a Race Day table run for the family.
In every course
- Grades 9 to 12, about 20 minutes a day
- Twelve weeks, from dot plots and box plots to probability, random variables and expected value
- Every question answer computed and checked, never typed by hand
- Every number is the crew's own Run Log reading, never a fact about the world
- A hands-on Data Lab every Wednesday with household materials
- The older crew, Comet and Wren, with Nova
- Maps to the Common Core high-school standards for interpreting data, making inferences, probability and decisions
- A Saturday Track Day for the family, with a note for the grown-up
- Free, start to finish. No card.
The course
The course is free, start to finish.
Questions families ask
What does it cost?
Nothing. Statistics is free from start to finish, with no card. A free parent account saves each student's progress.
What do we need at home?
Graph paper, a stopwatch or kitchen timer, a tape measure, index cards, a cloth bag with numbered paper tokens, a few coins, a spinner or a paper clip and a pencil, sticky notes and a notebook. Any walking or jogging is on a safe path with a grown-up aware, never on a road.
Is this a full Statistics course?
It covers the Common Core high-school statistics and probability standards, including the (+) codes: data displays, center, spread and shape, outliers, the normal model, two-way tables, scatter plots, least-squares lines, residuals and the correlation coefficient, correlation versus causation, samples, surveys, experiments and observational studies, judging a model with simulation, margins of error, comparing two treatments, the addition and multiplication rules, conditional probability and independence, permutations and combinations, random variables, expected value and fair decisions. It is not an AP course and not a credit-bearing or accredited course.
What should a student know first?
Dot plots, box plots, two-way tables and lines of fit (Algebra 1 Grades 9 to 12), the normal model, study types and simulation (Algebra 2 Grades 9 to 12), and permutations, combinations and expected value (Precalculus Grades 9 to 12). The course reviews each in a worked example as it goes.
Which standards does it cover?
The Common Core high-school standards S-ID, S-IC, S-CP and S-MD, with the (+) codes, listed week by week in the course.
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