Activity Overview
A CSI activity that deals with "TRENDS IN DATA". You'll conduct an investigation whereby you'll measure parts of your body and contribute to the investigation data to solve a murder. You'll look at different relationships to find proper correlations that will help us determine clues as to the identity of the victim in terms of their body measurements.
Before the Activity
Have the students try the TI-LearningCheck™ quiz on scatter plots. Send this out using TI-Navigator™. Also review the steps to take when plotting points and doing a line of best fit for scatter plots on the TI-83 plus graphing calculator. You may use my script done for the TI-Smart View™. Make sure you download the program called "DATTREND" to the TI-83 plus and TI-Smart View to demonstrate for the students who may need that visual display.
During the Activity
Students will partner up with someone in the class and retrieve the materials needed for the activity. Students are to measure various parts of their body and record them on the sheet provided so that they maybe collected by the teacher and organized into the TI-InterActive!™ software so that all data collected is sent through the TI-Navigator. Students the next day will analyze certain relationships between arm span and height, and any other the teacher wishes. (An option here could be to collect the data through the activity centre of the TI-Navigator for instant analysis.) In the end the students will determine the victim's height, foot length, and hand span and possibly make a prediction if it is male or female. This activity can be extended another day if the teacher wishes to add in the murderer. The idea here is that someone in the class will be the victim so you may change the initial information of the victim and at the end have the students in class raise their hands as to who had the exact data retrieved from the analysis done.
After the Activity
An extension of the activity is provided where students may calculate measures of central tendency in one variable statistics.