Teacher: Good morning students! How is everyone doing this morning? Brandon you watch the baseball game last night?
Student: Brandon → yeah kinda.
Teacher: Anyway, Has anyone ever noticed that certain things have connections? What two things can you name that are connected? Like hair colour, genetics, age and hair colour etc? … Yes Emily?
Student: Emily → ummm so the older you get the grayer your hair?
Teacher: Yes exactly Emily! Those are two connections. Anyone else? Marcus?
Student: Marcus → My brother and I have both have brown hair. And both my parents have brown hair as well? So is that a connection??
Teacher: Yeah that is a connection. Since both your parents have dark hair you are more likely to be born with dark hair. You will learn this in biology more, about recessive and dominant genes. But that is most likely the case. But there are simpler examples with two things that have a connection. Say we do a pop quiz right now. The people who study their notes daily, do their homework and are paying attention in class would probably do better than the people who did not do those things. Do you guys agree?
Student: John → Yeah that makes sense. So the quiz and the student are the connection?
Teacher: Yeah basically. So the more prepared you are for the quiz the better you will do. So it’s not necessarily the student and the quiz, we are looking at how well a student prepares for a quiz and the results of the quiz. So let’s say Gerald studies every night for 2 hours, reviewing his notes, while Brandon has a nap everyday after school. So pretending Brandon isn’t a mathematician, he is more likely to do worse on the quiz than Gerald.
Teacher: What is the importance of knowing connections between two things? Like being prepared for a quiz and doing good on a test? Carol do you have any ideas?
Student: Carol → ummmmm. I guess then people know for next time that the more you study the better you will do on a quiz.
Student: Jermaine → (Interrupts abruptly) Sir i feel this is self explanatory. Like everyone knows that the more you study the better you’ll do. It’s common sense.
Teacher: Thank you Carol. And Jermain you are right as well. In this specific example it kind of is self explanatory. But how do you know what you are saying is true? It might be common sense to you, but how would you prove this?
Student: Jermaine → What do you mean? Its pretty obvious?
Teacher: Well we need to convince the whole class that what you are saying is true. How can we do this? How can you showcase this?
Student: Jermaine→ Oh, umm, I guess I would see who studies and who doesn’t.
Teacher: Yeah so we would take a “sample” from our class in order to gather data. So say we have all the data we need, we have the exact hours of study time per student and the marks they receive on the quiz, but what would we do with this now? If we want to find out if there is a connection with study time and success on quizzes, how would we do this?
Student: John→ We can make a graph, and see if there is an increase in mark when students study more. I think if we had a picture of the data it would make more sense to more people.
Teacher: Exactly! Jermaine do you see what I mean now? If it doesn’t make sense to everyone, graphing the relationship between two variables can make it easier for everyone to understand a connection between two variables such as quiz marks and study time.
Student: Jermaine→ (nods in agreement)
