I wonder if you agree with this, {{custom.firstName}}. I think many more students can find the mean, median, and mode of a set of data than can tell us why we need each of those three different measures of central tendency.

Create a headache.

Whenever I'm going to teach about some new mathematical idea or skill, I find it always helpful to wonder, "Why did we invent this new mathematics? How does it solve the limitations of the math we already know? If this math is aspirin, then what is the headache and how do I create it for students?"

That's why I'm excited to see what your students say about this screen, a situation where the mean gives an answer that is much less useful than the median.

I hope you'll pause here and make sure students feel the headache, feel how the mean really doesn't capture the age of the central party guest, all so they can experience the median like the pain relief it actually is!

Dan & the Desmos Classroom Team

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Previous Previews

• [6.8.9] Hoops - Start with their senses.
• [6.8.5] The Plot Thickens - Create a headache.
• [6.8.2] Dot Plot - Start with their senses.