FACTivity – Swimming Upstream Without a Ladder (Spanish)
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For this FACTivity, you will answer the question: What is the difference between having a 50 percent chance of having something happen and having less or more than a 50 percent chance? You will answer this question by simulating shrimp moving downstream and potentially being caught by a pipe.
Materials:
- 3 yardsticks
- 1 piece of 22-by-28-inch posterboard
- 100 marbles
- A coffee can
- Data log (included)
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Swimming Upstream Without a Ladder: Dams and Pipes and River Shrimp Movements (Spanish)
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Standards addressed in this Activity:
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are a set of K-12 science education standards emphasizing inquiry-based learning, real-world applications, and integrating engineering practices, aiming to deepen understanding of science while promoting critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
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MS-ESS3-4
Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earths systems.
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MS-LS2-4
Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
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MS-LS2-5
Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The Common Core Standards are educational benchmarks in the United States that outline clear expectations for what students should know and be able to do in English language arts and mathematics from kindergarten through 12th grade, aiming to ensure consistency and coherence in education nationwide.
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Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.
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Recognize a statistical question as one that anticipates variability in the data related to the question and accounts for it in the answers. For example, "How old am I?" is not a statistical question, but "How old are the students in my school?" is a statistical question because one anticipates variability in students' ages.
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Understand that a set of data collected to answer a statistical question has a distribution which can be described by its center, spread, and overall shape.
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Recognize that a measure of center for a numerical data set summarizes all of its values with a single number, while a measure of variation describes how its values vary with a single number.
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Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context, such as by:
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Reporting the number of observations.
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Describing the nature of the attribute under investigation, including how it was measured and its units of measurement.
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Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall pattern with reference to the context in which the data were gathered.
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Understand that statistics can be used to gain information about a population by examining a sample of the population; generalizations about a population from a sample are valid only if the sample is representative of that population. Understand that random sampling tends to produce representative samples and support valid inferences.
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Use data from a random sample to draw inferences about a population with an unknown characteristic of interest. Generate multiple samples (or simulated samples) of the same size to gauge the variation in estimates or predictions. For example, estimate the mean word length in a book by randomly sampling words from the book; predict the winner of a school election based on randomly sampled survey data. Gauge how far off the estimate or prediction might be.
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Approximate the probability of a chance event by collecting data on the chance process that produces it and observing its long-run relative frequency, and predict the approximate relative frequency given the probability. For example, when rolling a number cube 600 times, predict that a 3 or 6 would be rolled roughly 200 times, but probably not exactly 200 times.
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Develop a probability model and use it to find probabilities of events. Compare probabilities from a model to observed frequencies; if the agreement is not good, explain possible sources of the discrepancy.
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Develop a probability model (which may not be uniform) by observing frequencies in data generated from a chance process. For example, find the approximate probability that a spinning penny will land heads up or that a tossed paper cup will land open-end down. Do the outcomes for the spinning penny appear to be equally likely based on the observed frequencies?
Social Studies Standards are educational guidelines outlining the essential knowledge, skills, and concepts students should learn in subjects such as history, geography, civics, and economics, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of societal structures, historical events, and global perspectives.
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People, Places, and Environments
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Science, Technology, and Society
Related Resources from the Natural Inquirer
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For this FACTivity, you will answer the question: What is the difference between having a 50 percent chance of having something happen and having less or more than a 50...FACTivity – Swimming Upstream Without a Ladder
For this FACTivity, you will answer the question: What is the difference between having a 50 percent chance of having something happen and having less or more than a 50...
