Investigating the deceptive results of the government's blackburn study, you elect to measure 6 more blackburns each in the city and volcanic desert to test your new hypothesis. (variations)
In this quest players directly compare samples from two different locations and to see how data sampling can directly affect a conclusion.
• Players will be able to create data summaries (particularly sorting by source)
• Players will be able to draw conclusions from data summaries
1. Were the blackburns in from both regions different in size?
2. What would have helped the government report to be more accurate?
3. Can you think of examples where collecting data only in one place might bias results? (extreme example – someone sampling the color of bears in the arctic would say that all bears are white)
4. Look through examples of reports in local news to see if it is common to disclose how data was collected for a study. Have students pick out examples where more detail might be needed.