Unit 9: Statistics & Probability
Note: Some lessons in this unit are from our popular AP Stats curriculum. Don’t let the “AP” title scare you! We’ve chosen the most introductory, fundamental, and approachable lessons from those materials. All students can successfully complete these lessons, and doing so will prepare them for future stats courses.
Part 1: Statistics
Statistics Concepts Covered
Categorical vs. Quantitative Data
Misleading Data Visuals
Relevant Topics Covered
Misleading graphs in politics, sports, business, and science
Statistics Concepts Covered
Marginal & Conditional Dist.
(Segmented) Bar Plots
Describing Associations
Relevant Topics Covered
Policing & Race
Stop and Frisk
Statistics Concepts Covered
Mean, Median
Range, Standard Deviation, IQR
Summary Stats on Calculator
Relevant Topics Covered
Salary Misrepresentation
Modifications for Algebra Courses: Exclude the section on finding the median within a histogram. At the beginning of class, give students a short demonstration of skew (left skew vs. right skew vs. symmetric). See AP Stats Lesson 1.3 for teaching materials on skew.
Statistics Concepts Covered
Determining Outliers
5 Number Summary, Boxplots
Comparing Distributions
Relevant Topics Covered
The Politics of “Average”
Taxes & the Middle Class
Statistics Concepts Covered
Linear Regression (ŷ = mx + b)
Linear Predictions
Ethics in Math Modeling
Relevant Topics Covered
Algorithmic Bias
Credit Scores
Food Deserts
Statistics Concepts Covered
Correlation Coefficient (r)
Correlation vs. Causation
Relevant Topics Covered
Educational Inequity
Sports Superstitions
Statistics Concepts Covered
Linear Models
Extrapolation
Relevant Topics Covered
Will 100% of Americans be Overweight by 2048?
The Challenger Tragedy
Statistics Concepts Covered
Normal Curves
The Empirical Rule (68-95-99.7)
Data Validity
Relevant Topics Covered
Race & “Intelligence”
Racist Data Arguments
Statistics Concepts Covered
Normal Calculations (with calculator)
Relevant Topics Covered
Baseball
The secret hero behind the Marlins Miracle
Part 2: Probability
Probability Concepts Covered
Definition & Properties of Probability
Probability Models
Law of Large Numbers
Relevant Topics Covered
Baseball
The “Curse” of the Home Run Derby
Probability Concepts Covered
Unions & Intersections
The Addition Rule
Two-Way Tables, Venn Diagrams
Relevant Topics Covered
Do people lie in their online dating profiles?
Probability Concepts Covered
Conditional Probability
Independence & Multiplication Rule
Tree Diagrams
Relevant Topics Covered
Do people lie in their online dating profiles?
Probability Concepts Covered
Successive Independent Events
“At Least One” Scenarios
Sampling Without Replacement
Relevant Topics Covered
Kobe’s 81-Point Game
“Hot Hand” Theory