TinkerPlots™

Paper Drop

Students analyse data collected from dropping two pieces of paper, one heavy and one light, onto a target and recording how far they land from the target. Once data are collected, students analyse their group's results, as well as their overall performance compared with that of other groups.

Paper Drop.zip (347.6 KB)

Who Has the Heaviest Backpacks?

Students compare backpack weights for students in different grades and compare backpack weights for boys and girls. They describe the data and use centers, such as means or center clumps. Students also explore different ways of separating, ordering, and stacking data to create a variety of graphical representations, observing how different plots highlight different aspects of the data.

Who Has the Heaviest Backpacks.zip (225.2 KB)

The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) has a summary of literature about the effects of backpacks on students. They also sponsor a National School Backpack Awareness Day.

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This commercial site contains a nice photo summary of the right and wrong ways to wear a backpack.

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Students at Germantown Academy in Pennsylvania conducted their own study and created a Web site that reports the results. Note: Raw data is not available.

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Is Your Backpack Too Heavy For You?

Students identify and describe important features of a set of data, specifically identifying which data values meet or surpass a given standard.

Is Your Backpack Too Heavy.zip (281.2 KB)

The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) has a summary of literature about the effects of backpacks on students. They also sponsor a National School Backpack Awareness Day.

Visit Site

This commercial site contains a nice photo summary of the right and wrong ways to wear a backpack.

Visit Site

Students at Germantown Academy in Pennsylvania conducted their own study and created a Web site that reports the results. Note: Raw data is not available.

Visit Site

Men's 100 Meter Dash

Students learn to recognize a trend in a time series graph and using that trend to make predictions. Specifically, students will explore how the gold-medal times for an Olympic event have decreased over time.

Mens 100 Meter Dash.zip (280.6 KB)

Here you can find all of the numeric data for each year of the Olympics. This site is part of the larger Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Education.

Visit Site

This individual has compiled a user-friendly database of track and field statistics that you can search in many different ways and includes competitions other than the Olympics. This is not an official Olympics website. Note: Registration is now required, but free.

Visit Site

Here you can find worldwide climate information, which you can enter into TinkerPlots to look at other possible factors in gold-medal times and distances.

Visit Site

The official website of the Olympic Movement is an excellent resource for learning about the history of the Olympics, sports, and athletes, but not a convenient way to find raw numerical data.

Visit Site

Men and Women at the Olympics

Students expand their ability to recognize trends in time series graphs, and compare the time series graphs of two different groups. Specifically, students will compare the trends of gold-medal times for men and for women in the same event.

Men and Women at the Olympics.zip (253.4 KB)

Here you can find all of the numeric data for each year of the Olympics. This site is part of the larger Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Education.

Visit Site

This individual has compiled a user-friendly database of track and field statistics that you can search in many different ways and includes competitions other than the Olympics. This is not an official Olympics website. Note: Registration is now required, but free.

Visit Site

Here you can find worldwide climate information, which you can enter into TinkerPlots to look at other possible factors in gold-medal times and distances.

Visit Site

The official website of the Olympic Movement is an excellent resource for learning about the history of the Olympics, sports, and athletes, but not a convenient way to find raw numerical data.

Visit Site