June 16, 2007

• Just in case you were wondering, this is page 1 of one of the lesson sets I just finished. Pages 1 and 2 of the lesson had a similar format: an article full of facts, some sort of data, and several questions. The article had to be written at a fourth grade reading level.  Page 3 was a  section on reading comprehension and “metacognition”–thinking about how we read and process information. The fourth page was a graphic organizer to help the students organize data and more questions about problem solving.
  

  
  

  Give Me Your
  Poor…

  A famous statue sits in New York Harbor.
  This statue, The Statue of Liberty, was given to the United States by France in 1885.  For many immigrants to the USA, Liberty Island
  is a symbol of freedom. However, Ellis Island was their “door” to the United States.

  From 1892 to 1954, twelve million immigrants came
  through this Federal immigration station. When a ship arrived in New York’s Harbor,
  passengers would get off. Some immigrants would take another boat to Ellis Island. There they would have a medical exam.
  Doctors would do a “six second physical” to check for sickness. Officials
  would examine the immigrant’s papers (such as his identification). If the
  person were in good health and was not a criminal, in three to five hours,
  the person would be allowed to enter the United States. Only 2% of
  immigrants were not allowed to enter the country.  If the person had a contagious disease which
  would make many people ill, he was not allowed to enter. If an immigration
  inspector thought the person had no way to work to support himself, he was
  also not allowed to enter.

  Many people immigrated to New York City, giving it a varied racial
  makeup. The list shows the largest 16 counties in New York State.  Next to each county is the percentage of
  population which is black.
  

  Kings County
  - 38.3%
  Queens County
  - 21.1%
  New York County – 19.8%
  Suffolk County – 7.8%
  Bronx County
  - 42.5%
  Nassau County
  - 11.3%
  Westchester County – 14.9%
  Erie County
  - 13.6%
  Monroe County
  - 14.7%
  Richmond County – 10.8%
  Onondaga County – 10.2%
  Orange County
  - 10.2%
  Albany County
  - 12.1%
  Dutchess County – 10.2%
  Rockland County – 11.9%
  Oneida County
  - 6.1%

  Read the article.  Then, answer the questions.

  1. Make a box and whisker plot of
  this data. What are the median, upper quartile, and lower quartile? [Median = (11.9 + 12.1)/2 = 12; upper quartile = (14.9
  +19.8)/2 = 17.35  ; Lower quartile =
  10.2%]

  2. What observations can you make
  about the data as shown in the box-and-whisker plot, especially about the
  outliers?
  [The median
  is quite far from the highest values of the data set.]

  3. What is the mode of this data
  set?  [10.2%]

  • 2:18 pm
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