Before high school, statistics and geometry often get shunted to the end of the academic year, increasing the odds that teachers may not get to them.
The tips, examples, and resources below can help educators incorporate the concepts earlier in the year through projects that cut across different types of math.
Statistics Tips
- Don鈥檛 wait for an official unit. Statistics units often fall at the end of the year, putting them at greater risk of being squeezed out. Third grades at Explorer Elementary in Kentwood, Mich. participate each fall in a data investigation (similar to a science fair project) to learn how to ask mathematical questions about data.
- Leverage data science and statistics projects to reinforce other concepts. For example, Georgia teachers use to teach 8th grade algebra and science as well as statistics.
- Encourage discussions. Tennessee teachers developed to get kids talking more about data in the real world.
Go Deeper With Geometry
- Start early. 鈥淚n order for students to get the depth they need to in high school geometry, there are experiences they need to have in early childhood, elementary, and middle school,鈥� said Trena Wilkerson, a past president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. 鈥淪patial reasoning is so much more than just naming shapes. It鈥檚 really understanding how those shapes are developed, what their attributes are, and how they鈥檙e connected.鈥� Geometry also lends itself to interdisciplinary learning, such as city planning projects in social studies and paper airplane competitions in science.
- Engage kids鈥� creativity. 鈥淔or many of my students, I found they could really engage in the visual connections that geometry affords,鈥� Wilkerson said, 鈥渁nd because the geometry connects to algebra concepts 鈥� for some students, it was an 鈥榓ha鈥� moment of being able to understand the mathematics and see the wonder, joy, and beauty in mathematics as well.鈥�
What It Looks Like in the Classroom
Statistics: Dione Maxwell, the head of math curriculum and instruction at Loganville High School in Georgia, uses a regular 鈥淭he Tonight Show鈥濃�攊n which host Jimmy Fallon asks guests to take turns smashing eggs on their heads鈥攖o teach her students across grades about probability. Teachers can recreate the skit with plastic, confetti-filled eggs, a deck of cards, or a web-based simulation site.
鈥淎t the beginning, they need to know, OK, there鈥檚 four raw eggs. I have a 4 out of 12 chance of getting a raw egg smashed on my head. But they also need to know that the probability changes every time an egg is chosen. So the kids then play the game using a simulation through the cards or a website. They come up with what the law of large numbers is, and we discuss it as a class, but it鈥檚 richer because they鈥檝e discovered it, rather than me just telling them a definition of something,鈥� Maxwell said.
Geometry: Wendy Lichtman, a math intervention specialist at MetWest High School in Oakland, Calif., partnered with a community art group, called the Rock, Paper, Scissors Collective, to teach students geometry by making quilts to donate to local hospitals and foster care agencies.
鈥淜ids don鈥檛 care a great deal about two lines being crossed by a transversal, but in quilting, it does matter; the fabric has to fit. The amount of puzzle solving is quite satisfying,鈥� said Lichtman, who shared a
Guidance and research
Here are resources to help educators deepen their own knowledge on statistics and geometry and its role in education.
- : The report from a 2023 National Academies of Science workshop discussing the evolution of data science education and research on teaching approaches.
- (GAISE): Two reports from the American Statistical Association detail best practices for statistics education at the pre-K-12 level and the college level.
- : The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics guide to research and pedagogy in math, expanding on an earlier report focused on high school.
- : The report from a 2023 National Academies of Science workshop discussing the evolution of data science education and research on teaching approaches.
Lesson plans and tools
- : Includes lesson plans that are peer-reviewed by the American Statistical Association, including Egg Roulette.
- : Teacher-developed lesson plans focused on social contexts, such as using to discuss random sampling and bias or data related to to show conditional probability.
- : 鈥淓xperience first, formalize later鈥� middle and high school lesson plans intended to encourage more in math.
- : Elementary and secondary lesson plans and slide decks that allow a teacher to walk students through the information in complex data charts, including Jenna Laib鈥檚 .
- : A free, web-based data tool for educators and their students
- Census at School: An international classroom data collaboration involving students in the and , which allows students to generate and explore demographic and survey data on random samples of students for class projects.
- An ongoing project by the SERP institute and Temple University researchers to develop and test meaningful lessons in geometry. The project focuses on high school but has related sites including lessons for elementary and middle school.
- : An Australian research project to develop spatial reasoning tasks for early grades.
This story is part of Miscalculating Math, a deep examination of math instruction.
Overview and key data: Advocates say reforms in math teaching are pushing out statistics and geometry and driving a drop in students鈥� math scores. Here鈥檚 what you need to know.
Q&As: Hear three professionals talk about how they use statistics and geometry in their careers.
Handy guide: Find tips, lesson ideas, and free resources for beefing up instruction in statistics and geometry.
Quiz: Test your knowledge of math concepts, and then see how U.S. students fared.
Complete Coverage: There鈥檚 even more to explore on this topic. Check out the complete collection, Miscalculating Math.
