Learning Target: Students will be able to create and compare Box and Whisker plots
Task: 1)Students are to tally the number of crops successfully grown in each field and create a box plot
2) Students are to record the gas prices at six different gas stations and create a box plot
3) Students are to record the price of 10 different vehicles in the showroom, then create a histogram
Materials: Students were given a worksheet to write answers and show their work. Students also required a laptop with which to work on.
Time: Students had 40 minutes to complete the task. Only a hand full of the students were able to finish in the time allotted.
Lesson Setting:
1) students are observing the crops that have successfully grown during a drought to inform the farmers how their crops fared
2) Students are going on a road trip and comparing gas prices now to a year ago
3) Students are looking to buy a new car and observing the spread of data as a histogram
Setup: “immutable world”, “creative mode,” and unable to equip any items
Plots of farmland were created
Gas stations were imported from www.minecraftplanet.com with boards posting the gas price
a showroom was created with vehicles and signs indicating prices.
Reflection: This lesson was ambitious. Only a few students (about three) were able to finish. I graded based on what was completed. The class required a considerable amount of modeling as they got started. However, after a walkthrough of the first few steps, many understood what to do. A few students did not understand how to make a box plot, requiring additional instruction (we had spent the last week designing box plots). Due to time constraints, grammatical errors were made on the worksheet during the creation process.
The sixth grade comes in at the end of the day, and this lesson was completed on the Friday before spring break. Students required more redirection than usual to stay on task. However, once started, student engagement was high overall.
I should have put barrier blocks around the crops. Students walked on the crops, which kills crops. To adjust I instructed the students to skip the first few questions referring to the farmland. The gas stations worked out well, I intend to make my own next time. The cars will need to be touched up next time as well.
Students walked on the crops, which kills crops.