Part 2.

Analysis Report
2a. Description of the Need
2a1. Needs Assessment Survey
The following list of questions were submitted as a survey through Survey Monkey at
this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JJ3ZPKK
These questions help to analyze the amount of pre-teaching time in the first Module of
the course. This survey covers the basic skills all students should have when beginning
the AP Statistics course as well as student motivational levels. In order to have all
students ready for the course, some of these topics may need to be reviewed when
survey results show a need.
1. Do you understand how to calculate the mean of data?
2. Do you understand how to calculate the mode of data?
3. Do you understand how to calculate the median of data?
4. Do you understand how to calculate the standard deviation of data?
5. Do you understand how to calculate the z-score of data?
In the 2013 NBA Finals, Miami Heat scored the following points in the seven game
series to win the championship:
88, 103, 77, 109, 104, 103 and 95.
6. Calculate the mean.
7. Calculate the mode.
8. Calculate the median.
9. Calculate the standard deviation.
10. Calculate the z-score for game #2, 103 points.
11. Do you have a computer at home?
12. Do you feel comfortable using a computer?
13. Do you have internet access at home?
14. Do you feel comfortable using the internet?
15. Can you easily learn to use new websites on the computer?
16. Do you have Microsoft Excel at home?
17. Can you stream videos at home, like YouTube, AuthorStream, Prezi?
18. Do you prefer to do your homework on the computer or using paper and pencil?
19. For this class, how often would you commit to doing homework per week? Two
hours, three hours or 4 hours?
20. Are you excited about taking AP Statistics?
A. Super Excited
B. I'm Excited
C. My mom/dad is making me take this class!

21. Do you plan to take the AP Exam for Statistics?

22. Do you have a Smartphone?
23. Do you have a tablet?
24. If you don't have a computer at home, would you be interested in getting one for
home that is no longer used by the school district?

2a2. Needs Assessment Data

In general the results for the following survey questions were at 100% or close to it.
Most students already understand how to calculate mean, median and mode. Although
their confidence level is higher than their actual calculations as shown in the follow up
questions where mean, median and mode were asked to be actually calculated. Any
misunderstandings can easily clarified during instruction through review videos and as
these concepts are used within other statistics topics.

Open graphs questions 6-8

It appears as though access to the technology necessary to complete class

requirements online is not an issue. Either 100%, or close to 100% of the students
surveyed responded have a computer, with excel, internet access and streaming
abilities. They also responded they are confident in using the internet and exploring new
websites.

Open graphs for question 11, 13, 16.

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When analyzing the responses regarding

homework delivery method. I am happy to
see those results being very mixed. I think
students will enjoy being able to submit
homework online mixed with paper and
pencil. After the first unit in the course, it
would be good to survey this question
again to see if a larger majority appears in
any of the choices.

Open graph for question 18

I must admit that the question about how much time students are willing to spend on
homework was a bit biased. Since I have not taught the class before, I am not sure how
much time will actually be required to complete the homework. I am hoping that a
maximum of two hours per week will be
necessary. But I wanted to see how much
time students were willing to commit.
These results were a pleasant surprise,
because the amount of homework when a
project is due may be higher than two
hours in a week. This is another question to
survey again later in the school year. An
additional survey about half way through
the year and again at the end of the year
would be appropriate to determine the
actual amount of time students spend on
homework for AP Statistics.
Open graph for question 19

Because this is an elective course the positive results for motivation level to take the
course and the AP Stats exam, are not surprising. The majority of students appear to be
happy about taking this class and having the opportunity to take the AP Exam to earn
college credit. Furthermore, several students have been advocating for an on campus
AP Statistics course at LHS for many years. For those students that have concerns
about the money to take the exam, there are scholarship options offered by LHS and
the college board. Those students can be directed to the school's AP coordinator to find
out if they qualify for payment assistance.

Open graphs for question 20 and 21

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The question to students having a Smartphone or a tablet, really isn't about if they have
these items at home. These questions will help me analyze whether or not there are
enough students in the class to help other students use these type of electronic devices.
It also helps me determine if there are enough phones in class such that when students
must complete a group activity, the likely hood that the group has access to a smart
phone is significantly high. In the long run, I hope to have a classroom set of tablets for
students when they attend class on campus.

Open graph for question 22 and 23

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2b. Description of the Learning Context

2b1. Learning Context
As stated previously, I plan to design the brand new AP Stats course as a blended
course. Because the course is brand new, this is a premium opportunity to fit the AP
Stats curriculum, as outlined by the College Board, into a blended environment rather
than trying to take existing curriculum and change it function online after the fact. When
school was dismissed for the summer last June, enrollment was at 53 students and two
sections were designated for AP Statistics.
The designated curriculum is guided by the College Board, but decisions about the
textbook to be used will be decided by the instructor during the summer prior to the
class initiation in September 2013. After student input, the text that will be used and is in
the ordering process is The Practice of Statistics by Starnes, Yates and Moore. This
appears to be a very student centered textbook that is less wordy than other texts
considered. A second book to be issued with the course is an AP Statistics Preparation
book by Barron's. Both books will be purchased by the school district, loaned to
students in September and returned in May or June.
To access material outside of class, the format to be used is Moodle as my school
district is already using this LMS as its online course management system. In order for
Moodle, or any online component, to be successful students will need access to a
computer, with internet access, outside of class. Additionally, the computer needs to be
able to play videos, have Microsoft Excel for data, students need an email account, and
students need to be comfortable using the internet and exploring new websites and
applications. All of this is addressed in the survey.
While students are in the classroom, it would be ideal for them to use that time to work
together, gathering and analyzing data for various projects. Additionally, the idea of
having AP Stats be a project based class is emphasized in the College Board
Curriculum. Therefore, I am planning to write some grants (already have one from
Google) to fund a classroom set of tablets. In the meantime, the class will be signed up
for the computer lab as much as possible. Other standard equipment available in every
classroom is a presentation computer connected to a document camera and a projector
with surround sound. All of this equipment should be sufficient to handle teacher and
student presentations.

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2b2. Transfer Context Description

Being a math teacher, you are always presented with the question, 'When will we ever
use this?' Because math is a building topic, many times the answer is that students
need the topic of the day to succeed in a higher level math class. Then when students
obtain the skills in calculus, you can finally answer many of those application questions.
However, using calculus in professions may receive excellent starting salaries, but is
still fairly limiting across professions.
Statistics however, applies across a wider variety of professions. Whereas high level
mathematics will mostly apply to business majors, engineers, research scientists,
actuaries and of course math teachers, statistics will be used in those professions as
well as a wider range of business positions, clinical trials, marketing, psychology,
computer science, finance, insurance companies, project management, analyst
positions, communications, professional sports and product production. Statistics is the
science of making effective use of numerical data. In summary, statistic skills are
needed in any profession that seeks self-improvement based on data that can be
collected to see how things are performing now. The data can help you determine
where improvements can be made.
One thing to watch out for in statistics however, is misleading statistics. Dilbert summed
this up well:

Picture courtesy of Scott Adams

2c. Description of Learners

The new AP Stats course at LHS is blended in more than one way, as AP Stats will
have students present that are enrolled in Pre-Calculus, a first year of Calculus, a
second year of Calculus or have completed LHS Calculus altogether. Since AP Stats
requires use of many mathematical techniques, and has students enrolled who are
connected to four different levels of math courses, I believe it is imperative to use the
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needs assessment survey that analyzes how much they already know about basic
statistic skills.
Did students retain the basic statistics that was taught in the middle school curriculum?
Do all the students remember standard deviation, z-scores, and sigma notation as was
covered by the Algebra 2 curriculum? How much do they remember? Based on the
year-to-year results, I can determine where to start in the curriculum. Do I need to start
with mean, median or mode or somewhere further into the curriculum? The needs
assessment survey analyzed this data nicely for the 2013 incoming students.
As shown in the graphs below, it appears that even though students have been taught
how to calculate standard deviation and z-score as shown in student confidence levels,
they will need to be reviewed concepts because their answers do not show the same
accuracy. The correct standard deviation answer was 11.180 and for z-score the
answer was 0.536.

Open graphs for questions 9 and 10

The most important question to ask however is, do

students have access to a computer at home and if
they do, do they have internet access? Although
most of our student population does own computers
and have internet, not all students do. To avoid a
digital divide situation, students without access will
need assistance. The last survey question will help
me determine how many students need help
accessing a computer. There are computers the
school district excesses to families in the district at
very minimal costs. Also, the school offers after
school computer lab access Monday through
Thursday for those students that need computer
access or students that need to meet in groups to
complete an assignment.
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Open graph for question 24

2d. Task Analysis Flowchart

This flowchart describes the process to create a graphical representation of univariate
numerical data, a box-and-whisker plot. Placing data in this type of graph helps a
student see patterns in the data. If two box-and-whisker plots are used, then students
can more easily compare data sets.

Open Flowchart

Prerequisite Skills

Open Prerequisite Skills Flowchart

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