Something I've done with adult learners in the past was the paper helicopter experiment. In that context, it was to certify groups of Lean Six Sigma Black Belts. That was very heavily about the use of data in decision making. So we went heavily into statistics.
We recently did a STEM day at a couple of elementary schools and did a simpler version of that experiment for the kids.
We had two prototypes, one with longer rotors than the other and did at least 30 trials, one kid dropping them and another kid timing it.
The kids got to see not only how the data is calculated then visualized in graphs, but they also got a glimpse into how we turn the data into information so that human beings can make good business decisions. We wanted them to see that there is a practical purpose to those boring data points and mundane calculations.
You can see that Helicopter 2 had the better flight time, but there were some variables that caused some outliers. Those are the dots that show up outside the whiskers in the boxplot on the right. In our experiment there were a couple of mishaps on starting the timer too soon and too late. It showed them the value of putting controls in place to minimize the outliers...otherwise "it's more work for us to do it all over again" (their words, not mine)...Amen! Haste makes waste. Great values to learn now instead of later.
Then, kids being kids, they decided they wanted to see who timed "wrong". So here you go (names have been omitted to protect the innocent ... ok, it's really to protect the guilty).
Try it with your kids, ours were highly engaged...one of them even told me they now want to be an engineer! One heart, one mind at a time!
-Carlo
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