1. Teacher Page Scientific Inquiry A. Processes of Scientific Inquiry. State standards 1.8, 4.1 7th grade assessment Students should be able to find the mean and median of sets of data, calculate percent and ratios, and determine the units in which the values should be expressed. View lesson before using with students to see what materials are needed and to learn mouse click commands.

3. Sometimes after you make measurements, you have to analyze your data to see what it means. This might involve doing calculations with your data. Find an Average The table shows the lengths of a group of unshelled peanuts. What is the average length of the peanuts? You can use a calculator to help you find out.

4. Find the Average Look at the list of lengths, and estimate what you think the average length is. Add the numbers. Find the average length of the peanuts by dividing your total by the number of peanuts measured. How close was your estimate to the actual average?

5. There are three kinds of averages-- Mean Median Mode Does it matter which one you use?

6. Find the Mean The mean is what most people think of when they hear the word average. Add the numbers. Find the mean by dividing your total by the number of weeks. Rounded up to one decimal point, your mean should be 2.7. Week Rain (cm) 1 2.0 21.4 30.0 40.5 51.2 62.5 71.8 81.4 92.4 108.6 117.5

7. Find the Median Week Rain (cm) 1 2.0 21.4 30.0 40.5 51.2 62.5 71.8 81.4 92.4 108.6 117.5 The median is the middle number when the numbers are arranged in order of size. Arrange the rainfall measurements in order of size.

8. Find the Median 0.0 0.5 1.2 1.4 1.8 2.0 2.4 2.5 7.5 8.6 The median is 1.8. This number is in the middle; there are five numbers above it and five numbers below it.

9. Find the Mode 0.0 0.5 1.2 1.4 1.8 2.0 2.4 2.5 7.5 8.6 The mode is the number that occurs most frequently. From the ranked set of data, you can see that the most frequent number is 1.4. It occurs twice.

10. Find the Mean, Median and Mode The table shows the length of 15 peanuts. Find the mean, median, and mode for this set of data. Which do you think best represents a typical peanut?

11. Find the Percent Sometimes numbers are given as percents (%). Percent literally means “per hundred.” For example, 28% means 28 out of 100. What if there are about 14,000 trees in the forest and 28% are over 50 years old? How many of them are over 50 years old? The answer should be 3,920. 14000 X 28%