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Grade 6 Math · Level 5, Statistics & Enrichment

Summarize Data in Context & Choose Measures

How the lesson starts: Summarize Data in Context & Choose Measures

1. The Great Snail Race

   Welcome to the Great Garden Snail Race! Coach Pearl timed every racer in minutes. Before she writes her report, she asks: how many snails? What unit? And which measure of center tells the truth? Let's help her start!

2. Count the observations

   Each mark is one snail, so each mark is one observation. Count every mark, even stacked ones: 2, then 3 more, 4 more, 2 more and 1 more. That's 12 observations, not 5, the number of labels. The unit is minutes, because Pearl timed the race.

3. Let's summarize a race

   Six snails finished in 8, 9, 10, 10, 11 and 12 minutes. Observations: 6. Unit: minutes. The times are balanced around the middle, with no outliers. When data are roughly symmetric, the mean describes the center well. 60 ÷ 6 = 10 minutes.