Shapes of Distribution Video Activity | Data & Statistics

Looking for an exciting way to round out your 6th grade statistics unit with shapes of distributions?

Your students will play the role of a pirate trying to find the location of a treasure. You'll play a video to set the stage, and then your students will solve 18 problems relating to distribution shapes and graphs. Each solution unlocks part of a code with the location of the treasure. Play the answer reveal video at the end for an exciting finish!

It's print-and-go and the included videos make it effortless — great for end of unit review, independent practice, group work, or even an emergency sub plan!

What's the math skills practiced?

In particular, there's practice on:

• Part 1: Identifying shapes of distribution based on graphs: symmetric, left skewed, right skewed, uniform
• Part 2: Comparing mean and median of different distributions. (Example: In a left skewed distribution, is the mean greater than or less than the median?)
• Parts 3 and 4: Construct dot plots and analyze data.
• Bonus notes: 4 quadrant organizer. Each quadrant describing symmetric, uniform, skewed left (negative skew) and skewed right (positive skew) distribution shapes with examples and details on mean/median.

What's included?

This codebreaker product is a compressed zip file that contains two videos and a 14-page PDF document. Simply download, unzip, and open up the folder with all the files!

Here's the full list of contents:

• Video #1: Introduction of Mission
• Video #2: Answer Reveal
• Post video discussion (1 page)
• Instruction Sheet (1 page)
• Message + Problem Sheets (5 pages)
• Answer Key (5 pages)
• Bonus notes (2 pages)

How can I use it?

Here's one way you could use it in your classroom:

1. Play the introductory video. Our animated video sets the stage, introducing students to their role of cracking the code to complete the mission.
2. Work alone or together. Students solve 18 problems, and get immediate feedback. Students match their solutions with symbols in an answer bank. If students can't find a symbol, that's a nudge to redo the problem.
3. Check the answers. You can play the answer reveal video or just walk through the answers with students, or pass out a copy of the included answer key for students to check!