Objective: Students will find and interpret averages for a real-world situation.
Resources: Teacher: none. Student: pencil, paper.
Procedure:
1. Instruct students to write down an estimation of how many minutes they spend each day doing certain activities such as: homework, listening to music, chores, reading, watching TV, and eating.
2. Make a list of categories on the chalkboard with the information gathered from the students.
3. Have each student total each category and divide the total number of minutes in each category by the total number of students in the class.
4. Discuss how the “average student” seems to them, compared to what they expected.
Variations/Options: As they write down their estimates of time for the activities, have them rate themselves on a scale: 1-far below average, 2-below average, 3-average, 4-above average, 5-far above average, then compare those estimates with the final results.