Suzanne Jordan

Sabrina Monserate

Hollywood Guessing Game - Analyzing Datasets

Mathematics Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to (SWBAT) create an accurate distribution from a given set of
data.
SWBAT create a least squares line for their data
SWBAT use their line of best fit to make a prediction about a new data point

Language Objectives:
Student will be able to use statistical terms, such as mean, median, mode, and slope, to
describe a data set.

Essential Question:
How do least squares lines help us to interpret data and predict new data points?

Common Core Mathematics Standards:

Represent data on two quantitative variables on a scatter plot, and describe how the
variables are related (CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSS.ID.B.6).
Fit a function to the data; use functions fitted to data to solve problems in the context of
the data. Use given functions or choose a function suggested by the context. Emphasize
linear, quadratic, and exponential models (CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSS.ID.B.6.A).
Fit a linear function for a scatter plot that suggests a linear association
(CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSS.ID.B.6.C).

Materials:
One computer per group/pairs (depending on class size)
Internet access
Pencil and Paper
Projector and Teacher computer and a clicker to change the slide remotely
A copy of each worksheet for each pair of students

Notes to the reader:

This lesson plan was designed for students who have already been introduced to basic dot
plots, mean, median, and mode. Students must already know how to graph linear functions.
Also, the idea for this lesson originated from UNCC. The CODAP data set used for this activity
was created and developed by Suzanne Jordan and Sabrina Monserate. Various websites were
used to obtain actor information (IMDB, Google, EthniCelebs).

Estimated Time: 70 - 90 minutes

 Suzanne Jordan
Sabrina Monserate

Time What is the teacher doing? What are students doing?

Before Teacher will open slide presentation on their Students will come in and sit with their pre
the computer called The Hollywood Guessing assigned partners at a desk that already has a
Activity Game before class starts but not turn on the laptop at it. Students will take out a pencil and
projector yet. paper to be prepared for class.

Teacher will be using the provided presentation

to show students 25 pictures of different actors
and actresses (https://goo.gl/fLmspv).

Before class starts the teacher will be

welcoming students to the classroom and
making sure students get in the correct seats.

5 min Before beginning the activity, the teacher can Students will give their thoughts on who is the
ask, Who in here thinks they are the best best age guesser in their class.
guesser of age, of names of actors, of number
of tv shows or movies an actor has been in, of
number of awards an actor has won?

Teacher records on the board the names of

students who think they are the best guesser
and says to the student lets see if these
people are really the best guessers.

10 min. Teacher will now turn on the projector so that Students will have to record their guesses for the
the students can see the slides and pass out following information on the provided student
the first part of the the hollywood guessing worksheet:
game worksheet with the table on it (pages 1 Actor Name
and 2). The student worksheet can be found at Age
https://goo.gl/pV5ggs. Gender
Ethnicity
Teacher instructs students to guess different Number of movies the actor has been in
types of information about the actor/actress Number of TV shows the actor has been
displayed. in
The instructions might sound something Number of awards the actor has received
like this: You and your partner are
going to guess what each actors age, Students will discuss with their peers about what
name, gender, ethnicity, number of would be a good guess and why.
movies or TV shows the actor has been
in, and the number of awards the actor Students may ask questions about how to spell
has won. Record your answers on the some actors name or how to resolve if they do
worksheet I have provided and you and not agree with their partners guess.
your partner must agree on the answer
you have written down. You will fill in After the solution slide is displayed, students
the column labeled, did you guess the must fill in whether or not they guessed the
name right, after we have gone through actors name correctly in the rightmost column of
all the slides. the student worksheet.
 Suzanne Jordan
Sabrina Monserate

Teacher then starts showing the slides of

actors to the students. Ideally the teacher will
have a clicker so that they can roam the
classroom to observe students guesses. While
they are roaming the teacher should
encourage students to discuss their guesses
with a partner before reaching an answer and
answer questions as needed.

Teacher will show the solution slide so that

students can check their guesses on actors
names.
The teacher will say something like
Now I am going to show you a slide
with the actor names on it. Do not
change your original guess if it was
wrong. Record either yes or no in the
column labeled, did you guess the
name right?

20-25 Teacher will pass out the remaining parts of
min. the worksheet. The second portion of the
worksheet is labeled: How do you know?.
The student worksheet can be found at
https://goo.gl/pV5ggs.
The teacher will say, Now please open the
CODAP file I have listed for you on your
worksheet. Teacher will provide students the
link for the CODAP data
set:https://goo.gl/pJsxA9.
The link is also visible as a slide in the
provided presentation as well as on the
student worksheet.
Students will open the given CODAP file and
enter their guesses into the corresponding blank
columns in the CODAP File.
Students will read and work through with their
partner questions 1-5 on the worksheet How did
you do? Students will compare their guesses to
the data that has been provided to them.
Students might make statements like: I am a
very bad guesser of age, I see that some of
the these actors have been in a lot of movies but
have received very few awards, or I was
surprised Clint Eastwood had won so many
awards.

The teacher should now say something like:
Now read the directions for questions 1-5 on
your worksheet and work through them with
your partner. I will be walking around to answer
any questions you might have.
Teacher will answer any questions the
students might have about inputting data into
CODAP.
Teacher will encourage students to explore the
data set and to compare their guesses to the
data in the CODAP data set. With questions
like: Why do you think Clint Eastwood won
Students will identify possible correlations
between variables and share them with their
partner/group. Students might discuss things
like: I think Clint Eastwood might have one so
many awards because of his age. or I noticed
that we were a lot better at guessing mens ages
than women's.
Students will be asked to compare the
distributions of the guessed age and the actual
age to see how they are similar and
different.Our two dot plots of actual age and
guesses age are similar at all maybe we are not
very good guessers.

more than 100 awards? What other attributes
might effect how many awards he has won?
Have you looked at all the attributes? Do you
think there is some correlation between gender
and how well you guessed someone age?
Teacher will ask students if the data set is valid
for making inferences about all Hollywood
actors and ask them to explain their reasoning.
5 - 10 Teacher will regain the students attention to
min. have a brief classroom discussion about what
students have found.
The teacher will start the discussion by saying:
Now you have had a chance the look at all the
data you have collected and data on the actual
information of the actors. What did you notice?
What did you find interesting?
The teacher may pick a few students in
particular to explain their ideas or thinking
before starting this discussion.
Depending on students answers to the first
question the teacher will ask follow up
questions, such as: Explain why you came up
with that idea? or Why do you think these two
attributes are related?
20 - 25 Teacher will instruct students to continue the
min. investigation and to answer questions 6 - 9.
Teacher will say: Now with your partner
continue to answer questions 6 - 9 on your
worksheet. You will be investigating actual age
and guessed age in the same dot plot.
Teacher will roam around to answer questions
and encourage students to explain their
thinking. The teacher may pose questions such
as: Why do you think your data is positively
correlated?, Is the correlation a strong
correlation?, Why do you think that movable
line best fits your data set?, Why might your
least squares line be more helpful in graphing
your data?
10-15 Teacher will flip to the slide of the presentation
min with the Mystery Actor Keanu Reeves.
Suzanne Jordan
Sabrina Monserate
Students will discuss whether or not the provided
data set is valid for making inferences about all
actors.
Students will participate in a discussion about
what they have learned from the data set.
Students might answer the question posed by
the teacher with: We noticed that we might
really be bad guessers of age., We noticed
that we were better at guessing mens ages.,
We noticed that just because an actor was in a
lot of movies or tv shows did not mean that they
had won a lot of awards.
Students will answer question 6 - 9 on the
student worksheet.
Students will create a new dot plot with actual
and guessed ages on it and compare it will their
dot plots form question 4.
Students will graph a movable line and a least
squares line. Then, they will compare them
based on a guess.
Students will ask the teacher clarifying
questions, such as, Why is the least squares
line not 100% accurate?, Why is the movable
line not 100%?, or Why does my movable line
or least squared line not work well for zero
years?
Students will use their least squares line and
movable line to use their guess to predict the
 Suzanne Jordan
Sabrina Monserate

mystery actors actual age.

Teacher will instruct students to look to the
Mystery Actor/Actress part of the student Students will ask the teacher clarifying
worksheet and answer questions 10 -12. questions, such as, Why is the least squares
line not 100% accurate?
Teacher may say, Now that youve calculated
your unique least squares line and movable Students will compare their prediction to mystery
line, use your guess to predict how old this actors actual age.
actor is.
Students will discuss whether or not their model
Once students do so, transition to the last side for age and guessed age was accurate.
in the presentation which tells students that the
mystery actor is Keanu Reeves and he is 53 Students will discuss amongst themselves to find
years old. who had the most accurate model. Students will
give out suggestion about why they might be the
Teacher will instruct students to answer the best guesser. They may say something like:
remaining questions. Our least squares line gives the best prediction
of actual age
Teacher will regain all of the students attention
once they have finished answering the
questions and say: Base on the information
that you just calculated who do you think was
the best guesser and why?
Teacher will identify the group who had the
most accurate guess, which would imply that
they had the most accurate model.

5 min. Teacher will facilitate a brief discussion of Students will contribute their last thoughts on the
closing remarks about how least squares line activity.
helps us interpret data and predict new data
points.

Links Used for the Lesson

Presentation - https://goo.gl/fLmspv
Blank CODAP - https://goo.gl/pJsxA9 Blank Student Worksheet - https://goo.gl/pV5ggs
Answer Key/Student Example Worksheet - https://goo.gl/KNAcnS
Student Example CODAP - https://goo.gl/5fAAfg