Week+3+5301

Discussion:

I generally calculate the class average for a test given to see how the students did. I very rarely calculate the median or mode. I think I will start calculating the median, though, because I think it is a better measure than most people think. Most people want to just calculate the "test average", but the median separates the data by percentage....50% of the class scored over or under this particular score--that's important information, especially when we are talking about re-teaching a concept. The median is more useful than the mean here because it is not influenced by extreme values. I mean, what if you have a couple of students who completely bomb a test and drag down the class average below a 70? Does this mean that the majority of your students don't understand the concept and failed the test? No. A box and whisker plot (based on quartiles and median) can be done on the graphing calculator and could also be a teaching lesson on not only how to read this type graph, but also to give the students feedback on what percent of class scored in what quartile on the test.

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