Education Technology


Readability of Magazine Advertisements

Activity Overview

Market researchers use the number of sentences per advertisement as a measure of readability for magazine ads. Using statistical information, students will discover what advertisers believe is the best number of sentences per advertisement. After collecting data, students will explore the concepts of variance, standard deviation and the Empirical Rule.

Before the Activity

You will need to collect a minimum of 30 advertisements from magazines and determine what makes a sentence. The teacher file has a data set and complete solution.

During the Activity

This is a teacher-led exploration activity. You will be discussing the definitions of variance, standard deviation and Empirical Rule.