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Math lesson plan · 7th grade (Year 8 in England) · 30 minutes

Compare two groups using centre and spread

Statistics and probability

CCSS 7.SP.B.3CCSS 7.SP.B.4England: KS3 StatisticsEngland: GCSE Foundation Statistics

Objective and success criteria

Students will: Compare two groups using centre and spread.

  • I can answer questions on today's skill on my own, without help.
  • I can explain each step and say why it works.
  • I can check my answer and spot a mistake.

Before and after

Needs first: Mean absolute deviation (MAD); Find quartiles and the interquartile range

Leads to: the next skill in this area.

Materials: Squared paper for charts, Class survey data, Sticky notes for a live chart, Mini whiteboards and pens, Printed student sheet (below).

Warm-up · 4 min

  • Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Mean absolute deviation (MAD); Find quartiles and the interquartile range). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
  • Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.
  1. The mean of 17, 16, 15, 14, 3 is 13. Find the mean absolute deviation. → 4Prompt: Find how far each value is from the mean (ignore signs).
  2. Find the upper quartile (Q3) of: 20, 4, 31, 39, 32, 23, 40 → 39Prompt: Order the data and find the median.
  3. Arjun's scores: 10, 12, 14, 12. Tariq's scores: 5, 19, 12, 12. Both have mean 12. Whose scores are more consistent (smaller MAD)? (Arjun / Tariq) → ArjunPrompt: MAD measures how spread out the data is around the mean.

Hook · 3 min

  • Take a quick class survey (favorite fruit, travel to school) and ask what the results tell us.
  • Share the objective: Compare two groups using centre and spread. Read the success criteria together.

I do: model it · 7 min

  • Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
  • Example: Class A's mean height is 145 cm and Class B's is 157 cm. Both have a mean absolute deviation of 3 cm. The difference in means is how many MADs?
  • Step 1: 157 − 145 = 12
  • Step 2: 12 ÷ 3 = 4
  • Answer: 4
  • Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

We do: guided practice · 6 min

  • Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
  • Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
  1. Class A's mean height is 157 cm and Class B's is 169 cm. Both have a mean absolute deviation of 4 cm. The difference in means is how many MADs? → 3Prompt: Find the difference between the means.
  2. Minutes of daily reading. Nia's group: 15, 16, 25, 16, 28, 13, 29. Noah's group: 23, 28, 33, 25, 40, 21, 39. Using medians, which group typically reads for longer? (Nia's group / Noah's group / They are the same) → Noah's groupPrompt: Order each list and find the middle value.

You do: independent practice · 7 min

  • Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
  • Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

Exit ticket · 3 min

  • Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
  1. Class A's mean height is 154 cm and Class B's is 162 cm. Both have a mean absolute deviation of 2 cm. The difference in means is how many MADs? → 4Prompt: Find the difference between the means.
  2. Two basketball players' points per game: Lucia has median 18 and IQR 6; Liam has median 18 and IQR 3. Who is more consistent? (Lucia / Liam) → LiamPrompt: Consistency is about spread, not the average.

Watch out for

  • Forgetting to put data in order before finding the median.
  • Reading a bar's height wrongly when the scale goes up in 2s or 5s.

Support and stretch

Support

  • Review first: Mean absolute deviation (MAD).
  • Use concrete materials: squared paper for charts.
  • Give the first step of each question, or a partly worked example to finish.
  • Pair with a confident partner for the guided practice.

Stretch

  • Explain a common mistake in writing and how to fix it.
  • Write a word problem that uses today's skill, then solve a partner's.

Homework and more practice

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/math/grade-7.

Free lesson plan from eurekami.com/lesson-plan-builder

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Compare two groups using centre and spread

Name

Date

Score/ 6

  1. Question 1

    Class A's mean height is 154 cm and Class B's is 170 cm. Both have a mean absolute deviation of 4 cm. The difference in means is how many MADs?

    Answer

  2. Question 2

    Minutes of daily reading. Ines's group: 12, 18, 10, 21, 17, 13, 18. Amara's group: 20, 27, 17, 30, 24, 22, 26. Using medians, which group typically reads for longer?

    • A. Ines's group
    • B. Amara's group
    • C. They are the same

  3. Question 3

    Two basketball players' points per game: Yuki has median 18 and IQR 6; Noah has median 18 and IQR 11. Who is more consistent?

    • A. Yuki
    • B. Noah

  4. Question 4

    Class A's mean height is 157 cm and Class B's is 163 cm. Both have a mean absolute deviation of 3 cm. The difference in means is how many MADs?

    Answer

  5. Question 5

    Minutes of daily reading. Felix's group: 18, 30, 14, 24, 18, 19, 17. Ben's group: 24, 37, 21, 33, 24, 28, 24. Using medians, which group typically reads for longer?

    • A. Felix's group
    • B. Ben's group
    • C. They are the same

  6. Question 6

    Two basketball players' points per game: Hana has median 18 and IQR 7; Zoe has median 18 and IQR 4. Who is more consistent?

    • A. Hana
    • B. Zoe

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Answer key: Compare two groups using centre and spread

  1. 1. 4

  2. 2. B. Amara's group

  3. 3. A. Yuki

  4. 4. 2

  5. 5. B. Ben's group

  6. 6. B. Zoe