Math lesson plan · 7th grade (Year 8 in England) · 45 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 · 5 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.
- The mean of 5, 10, 4, 9 is 7. Find the mean absolute deviation. → 2.5Prompt: Find how far each value is from the mean (ignore signs).
- Find the lower quartile (Q1) of: 41, 45, 47, 29, 5, 6, 23 → 6Prompt: Order the data and find the median.
- Maya's scores: 25, 28, 31, 28. Zoe's scores: 20, 36, 28, 28. Both have mean 28. Whose scores are more consistent (smaller MAD)? (Maya / Zoe) → MayaPrompt: MAD measures how spread out the data is around the mean.
Hook · 5 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 · 10 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 · 10 min
- Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
- Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.
- Class A's mean height is 145 cm and Class B's is 151 cm. Both have a mean absolute deviation of 2 cm. The difference in means is how many MADs? → 3Prompt: Find the difference between the means.
- Minutes of daily reading. Zara's group: 21, 19, 17, 28, 30, 23, 17. Hiro's group: 26, 24, 21, 31, 35, 28, 20. Using medians, which group typically reads for longer? (Zara's group / Hiro's group / They are the same) → Hiro's groupPrompt: Order each list and find the middle value.
You do: independent practice · 10 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 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.
Exit ticket · 5 min
- Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.
- Two basketball players' points per game: Noah has median 18 and IQR 10; Zoe has median 18 and IQR 12. Who is more consistent? (Noah / Zoe) → NoahPrompt: Consistency is about spread, not the average.
- Minutes of daily reading. Arjun's group: 21, 27, 16, 25, 11, 17, 15. Hiro's group: 24, 28, 19, 27, 14, 18, 19. Using medians, which group typically reads for longer? (Arjun's group / Hiro's group / They are the same) → Hiro's groupPrompt: Order each list and find the middle value.
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