Bio: Irena Kania was born and raised in Poland. She came to United States in 1991 and completed her undergraduate study at NLU. Her graduate education includes degrees in Teaching and Mathematical Education from Chicago State and DePaul Universities, respectively. She teaches mathematics at Bogan High School.
Narrative of Amazing Teaching Moment:My Amazing Teaching Moment took place in my statistics class when students were asked to analyze statistical data. It was an inquiry lesson during which students were asked to choose the best race horse. Students were given data of the running times performed by each horse. Students completed tables which included different statistical measures such as maximum, minimum, mean, median, quartiles 1 and 3, inter-quartile range, range, and standard deviation. In addition, they displayed box and whisker plots for all three horses using a single number line. Students used TI graphing calculators and DESMOS to perform calculation and completed the box and whisker plots on graph paper. While working with the data, students realized that means and ranges of all horses were the same, but standard deviations were slightly different between each horse. As a result, students started paying closer attention to individual plots for each horse and their shape, as well as the meaning of their standard deviation. They worked in pairs and conferred about which horse would win if they were betting. Students applied critical thinking and looked for evidence as to which horse was more consistent in running the distance in a time near the mean. In the end, each student came up with another situation to which they would apply similar strategies and statistical measures. This lesson was very powerful because students were engaged and the activity included hands on as well as analytical thinking skills. I was also able to assess my students for their knowledge and understanding of basic descriptive statistical measures and graph interpretation. I was impressed with discussions and applied knowledge that my students demonstrated.
