Do You See What I See? Is Candy Just a Treat or a Math Tool? Statistics and You

“Statistics” is a word that conjures up nightmares for those who are not mathematically confident. Even for advanced and/or practicing mathematicians, statistics still seems to make people want to run and hide when the word is brought up or even thought about.

Students and teachers alike find it difficult to learn the language of Statistics. It is often difficult for students to conjure up an image for understanding and interpreting data. These same skills for a special education student can be significantly more difficult. 

This unit is designed to help all of our students develop a better understanding of statistics. It is intended for seventh and eighth grade students working on the statistics strand of the School District of Philadelphia’s math curriculum, and who may or may not have some degree of a learning disability. It will be geared towards helping special education students, but can be equally successful with general education population as well.

This unit seeks to help students to recognize the kinds of patterns and logical changes that occur in statistics through everyday examples that the students see. It will help to develop a critical stance toward statistical information that students receive through printed material, or in the media.