Statistics Word Problems: Compare Two Data Sets of Annual Salaries

This middle school math lesson allows your students in grades 6-8 to apply the statistical skills they have been learning in class to a real-world financial literacy scenario: the annual salaries of workers who have a college degree compared to those who do not have one. It is a real world math activity that includes five worksheets all ready to go!

Your students will:

- Make two dot plots to display two data sets (that are included with the lesson): wages for people with a college degree and those without

- Share observations about the distribution of data in each set

- Calculate the mean, median and interquartile range for each data set

- Draw inferences about whether there is an effect of a college education on someone's annual salary

- Consider if the sample that was used is representative

This lesson was designed to specifically address 7th Grade Common Core Math Standards for the Statistics and Probability strand:

• 7.SP.A.1

• 7.SP.B.3

• 7.SP.B.4

What's Included: 7 Page PDF- Ready to Print and Use!

- Title Page with Teacher Instructions

- Student Handout that has Two Data Sets (with 20 items each)

- Dot Plot Worksheet (for students to graph and compare two dot plots)

- 2-Page Measures of Central Tendency and Variation Worksheet

- Reflection Worksheet

- Answer Key

If you enjoy this statistics lesson, check out other fun options in my store:

Middle School Math Stations or Centers for Statistics and Probability: 5 Math Centers that are a great way to prepare for a unit test!

Create Dot Plots and Histograms: 6th Grade Statistics and Graphing Practice: Students create and carry out their own survey and then graph it two ways!

Identifying and Writing Statistical Questions for 6th Grade Math: Help your students learn ways to collect data and try it out!