Archived AP Stats Lessons
Kelly Pendleton
We’ve heard from you that you want some old favorites…
When we updated our curriculum to reflect the changes made to the AP Statistics course, we had to say goodbye to some fun Math Medic lessons! Whether you’re looking for these lessons because you enjoyed teaching them in the past, or because you have extra time and want your students to learn more, we’ve put together the most asked for favorites that are no longer in the AP Statistics curriculum.
Percentile (formerly Lesson 2.1 in the Modeling Data unit)
Activity: Where Do I Stand? Part 2
Learning Targets
- Calculate and interpret percentiles for quantitative data.
- Use a cumulative relative frequency graph to analyze quantitative data.
We still introduce percentiles in our current Lesson 1.7, but if you’re looking to go more in depth with how percentiles are used to create cumulative relative frequency graphs, then this lesson is for you! The Check Your Understanding problems also encourage students to see the connections between these graphs, IQR, and you could even push them further to use the information from these graphs to construct a box plot!
Lesson: Word | PDF | Answer Key
Choosing the Best Model (formerly Lesson 3.7 in the Two-Variable Data unit)
Activity: How Close Can You Get to the Finish Line?
Learning Targets
- Choose the best model for two-variable quantitative data and justify your answer.
We love a lesson where students get out of their seats to collect their own data and make new connections! That’s why we love this lesson using pull back cars. The intention of this lesson is for students to choose the best model (linear, quadratic, etc,) for making predictions. They’ll compare scatterplots, residual plots, and r2 to help make their decision. At the end of class, students will use their chosen model in a fun competition against each other! This lesson is great to do if you have an extra day that needs to be filled and want students to apply their knowledge of regression to nonlinear models.
This original lesson was modified from an activity created by Fawn Nguyen.
Lesson: Word | PDF | Answer Key
Transforming Random Variables (formerly Lesson 6.3 in the Random Variables unit)
Activity: Is it Time for a Raise?
Learning Targets
- Describe what happens to the probability distribution of a random variable when adding/subtracting a constant.
- Describe what happens to the probability distribution of a random variable when multiplying/dividing by a constant.
In this lesson, students will use their class data from our current Lesson 4.2 to determine what happens to the probability distribution of a random variable when adding/subtracting a constant or multiplying/dividing by a constant. If you don’t have class data to use, then have students copy down the results from our class!
In our current Lesson 1.8, students learned how the shape, center, and variability of a distribution were affected by linear transformations (i.e., changing the units of a variable by adding/subtracting a constant and/or multiplying/dividing by a constant). The rules for probability distributions are exactly the same: measures of center are affected by both adding/subtracting a constant and multiplying/dividing by a constant, while measures of variability are not affected by adding/subtracting a constant. If you’re looking for a lesson to help students better understand how to apply the rules of linear transformations to random variables, then this is the lesson for you!
Lesson: Word | PDF | Answer Key
The Geometric Distribution (formerly Lesson 6.8 in the Random Variables unit)
Activity: How Many Bottle Flips to go Viral?
Learning Targets
- Check conditions for determining if a random variable is geometric.
- Calculate probabilities for a geometric distribution.
- Describe the probability distribution for a geometric random variable (shape, center, variability).
At a high school talent show in 2016, the bottle landed and the crowd went wild. A few years later at Stats Medic Summer Camp, the “bottle flip lesson” was born. A random variable follows a geometric probability distribution when we are counting the number of trials until the first success. The probability calculations are very intuitive–if the bottle lands for the first time on the fourth attempt, then the first three attempts were failures and the fourth attempt was a success: P(X = 4) = (1 – p)3 · p. This concept was taken out of the most recent AP Stats CED update, but could still be a fun lesson to do with students.
Lesson: Word | PDF | Answer Key
Introduction to Chi-Square Tests (formerly Lesson 12.1 in the Chi-Square Tests unit)
Activity: What is Your Favorite Color M&M? Part 1
Learning Targets
- Write hypotheses for a chi-square test for goodness of fit.
- Calculate a test statistic and a p-value for a chi-square test for goodness of fit.
Who doesn’t love M&Ms? In this lesson, students will be investigating the color distribution of M&Ms. You will need to have a family size bag of M&Ms that will be considered a random sample of all the M&Ms produced at the factory. Don’t have a bag? No worries, we have this applet as a great companion. This activity introduces the idea of chi-square through the lens of multiple proportions instead of connecting chi-square to two-proportion z-tests (like in our current Lesson 7.8). Chi-square tests for goodness of fit were removed from the most recent AP Stats CED, but the simulation that goes along with the applet is great for introducing the idea of the chi-square distribution!
Lesson: Word | PDF | Answer Key
We appreciate all the love for these archived AP Stats lessons. We hope you and your students enjoy them!