Statistics Olympics

Statistics Olympics Group ______Date ______

What event is your group in charge of? ______

Record the top finishers: Gold ______Silver ______Bronze ______

Congratulations on randomly being selected to participate in the Statistics Olympics. You will proudly be representing your nation in the field events of Yard Stick Balancing, Cotton Ball Throwing, Q-Tip Javelin, Fast Fingers, Blind Balance, and Cheerio Stacking. There will be prizes.

The class will be divided into groups. One group will be assigned to each event. Your group will run a station where others will come and compete in your event. One or two members should be running the station while the others go out and compete in the events, then trade places. Each group will need to collect data from the entire class for their event, so be sure to take turns. You will be given a class record sheet. Record your data carefully so that it can be photocopied and shared with the other groups.

REPORT: You will get 1 or 2 class periods to work on the report with your group. Your group should prepare a typed report that answers the following questions. You may want to split up responsibilities.

1. Describe the shape of the distribution for each data set. Choose the best measure for the center and spread. Even if the data is skewed, find the standard deviation and the mean for each data set.

2. Show your work both graphically with a histogram and numerically. Apply the 68-95-99.7 Rule to each data set and describe what this tells you about the normality of the distribution. Add vertical lines to your histogram indicating each standard deviation.

3. Are there any outliers in any event? Show your work both graphically and numerically.

4. What was the one best single performance overall comparing all events? Remember, when you want to compare apples to oranges, you need to standardize your data. Justify your selection.

5. Who was the best athlete overall? Justify your method.

6. If YOUR group’s event was to become a competition in all high schools, what time/distance/number would you require a city champion to have? State champion? National champion? Olympic champion? Justify your method.

Attach this sheet to your report. “I agree that all group members have contributed fairly to this project and accept the group grading.”

Signatures of group members: STATISTICS OLYMPIC EVENTS:

Yard Stick Balancing Materials: yard sticks, timers, masking tape Procedure: Tape a square on the floor that is 1 yard x 1 yard. The participant must stay in the square, if they step out, they are done. Time how long a person can balance a yardstick vertically. Record time to the nearest second.

Cotton Ball Toss Materials: cotton balls, tape measure Procedure: Designate a line that participants cannot step past. Each participant gets three tries. Throw the cotton ball as far as you can. Record the top distance.

Q-Tip Javelin Throw Materials: Q-tips, tape measure Procedure: Designate a line that participants cannot step past. Each participant gets three tries. Throw the javelin (Q-tip) as far as you can. Record the top distance.

Blind Balance Materials: timer Procedure: Participants must shut their eyes, stretch their hands straight out from their sides, and lift one foot (without bending the knee) in front of them. Time how long the participant can balance. If the arms come down or the other foot touches the floor, time is up!

Fast Fingers Materials: calculator, timer Procedure: Set up the calculator to be in the Lists. Each individual will get 30 seconds to enter as many consecutive digits into the list as they possibly can. The digits must be: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12…etc. The score is the top consecutive CORRECT number that they get. They may fix their entries as they go, but have to stop once the time is up. If there is an incorrect entry, then the score is the number before the error.

Cheerio Stacking Materials: Cheerios, timer or clock Procedure: On a flat surface (not a desk) each participant will get 1 minute to stack as many Cheerios as possible vertically, one directly on top of another. If the stack falls, participants may try again until the time is up. The score is the total number of Cheerios in their tallest stack.