Part 1 Older US Roller Coaster Investigation Posing an Initial

Home , Comet (Waldameer), Demon (roller coaster), Frontier City, Gemini (roller coaster), Giant Dipper, Jack Rabbit (Seabreeze)

Mod 1: Part 1 older US Roller Coaster Investigation

Posing an Initial Investigative Question: How tall do older roller coasters tend to be? Open data for 31 roller coasters in CODAP with this link. Let’s first graph the Max Height (drag label from table to x-axis in graph) and find out how we can describe the height of roller coasters. Each dot in the graph represents a case of a roller coaster and corresponds to one row in the table. Click on a dot and notice the table. Explore the coasters by clicking on dots or selecting rows in the table. Let’s find out about some extreme coasters in our sample: 1. a) Name of coaster with the smallest max height: b) Smallest Maximum height: c) What else can you find in the data table about the coaster with the smallest height? (It may be helpful to use tools in the ruler menu in CODAP to explore the data.) 2. a) Name of coaster with the tallest maximum height: b) Largest Maximum height: c) What else can you find in the data table about the coaster with the tallest maximum height?

3. Add two moveable lines to form a shaded region and move it so it covers a clump of the coasters you consider to be typical in height. (Use the ruler menu beside the graph window to add moveable values.) a) What range of data does your shaded area cover? b) How many coasters are in the shaded region (look under the ruler menu)? c) What percent of data are in your shaded region (look under the ruler menu)? (Before moving on, you may want to remove the shaded region by going to the ruler menu and removing the movable values.)

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Lee, H. S., & Mojica, G. F. (2017). Enhancing Statistics Teacher Education with E-Modules. Retrieved from: https://fi- esteem.s3.amazonaws.com/module1/part1/esteem_mod1_part1_roller_coaster_investigation.pdf

4. Explore adding a mean, median, and box plot to the graph (look under the ruler menu). a) Describe the typical maximum height for these 31 older roller coasters. b) Do these coasters all have similar heights? c) Based on this sample of data, what can you say about the typical maximum height of all older roller coasters built before 1980 in the U.S.

5. On one of your graphs, drag and drop the variable Type into the middle of the graph. Notice how the case icons are recolored according to whether the coaster is wooden or steel. Do you notice anything interesting about the coasters with this new information added?

Data sets with more than 2 variables afford opportunities for learners to engage in exploratory data analysis, where more questions may arise based on patterns noticed. Technology tools afford different ways for displaying and interacting with data. For the next three questions, use CODAP to explore the data. Create different graphs and explore adding statistical measures to the graphs to investigate these questions. Write a brief response to each question that includes screenshots from the online tool. 31 Coasters in CODAP

6. Are there differences or similarities between maximum height for older coasters that are made of different material (Wood or Steel)? Explain.

7. Are there differences or similarities between the track lengths for older coasters that are made of different material (Wood or Steel)? explain.

8. For older coasters, how is track length and maximum height generally related? Explain.

9. If you investigate these same three questions with a sample of coasters built after 1980, what do you expect to find? Why?

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31 Roller Coasters built before 1980

Index Coaster Park Type Year Max Track Opened Height Length 1 Zippin Pippin Libertyland Wooden 1915 70 2865 2 Jack Rabbit Kennywood Park Wooden 1921 40 2132 3 Thunderhawk Dorney Park Wooden 1923 80 2767 Santa Cruz Beach 4 Giant Dipper Wooden 1924 70 2640 Boardwalk 5 Thunderbolt Kennywood Park Wooden 1924 70 2887 6 Wildcat Lake Compounce Wooden 1927 85 2746 7 Coaster Thrill Ride Puyallup Fair Wooden 1935 55 2650 8 Cyclone Lakeside Wooden 1940 90 2800 9 Comet Hersheypark Wooden 1946 84 3360 10 Comet Waldameer Park Wooden 1951 37 1300 11 High Speed Thrill Coaster Knoebels Steel 1955 18 200 12 Bobsleds Seabreeze Steel 1962 31 1240 Miracle Strip Amusement 13 Starliner Wooden 1963 70 2640 Park Family Kingdom Amusement 14 Swamp Fox Wooden 1963 75 2400 Park 15 Blue Streak Cedar Point Wooden 1964 78 2558 16 Cannon Ball Lake Winnepesaukah Wooden 1967 70 2272 17 River King Mine Train Six Flags St. Louis Steel 1971 32 2500 18 Big Bend Six Flags Over Texas Steel 1971 81 2876 Great American Scream 19 Six Flags Over Georgia Wooden 1973 105 3450 Machine 20 Demon Six Flags Great America Steel 1976 102 2130 21 Demon Paramounts Great America Steel 1976 102 2130 22 Whizzer Six Flags Great America Steel 1976 70 3100 23 Screamin Eagle Six Flags St. Louis Wooden 1976 110 3872 24 Texas Cyclone Six Flags AstroWorld Wooden 1976 93 3180 25 Gemini Cedar Point Steel 1978 125 3935 26 Loch Ness Monster Busch Gardens Williamsburg Steel 1978 130 3240 27 Montezooma's Revenge Knotts Berry Farm Steel 1978 148 800 28 Colossus Six Flags Magic Mountain Wooden 1978 125 4325 29 Revolution Libertyland Steel 1979 70 1565 30 Silver Bullet Frontier City Steel 1979 83 1942 31 Beast Paramounts Kings Island Wooden 1979 110 7359

Data Sources: rcdb.com, wikipedia.com, ultimaterollercoaster.com

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