High School Statistics Curriculum
Below are skills needed, with links to resources to help with that skill. We also encourage plenty of exercises and book work. Curriculum Home
Important: this is a guide only.
Check with your local education authority to find out their requirements.
High School Statistics | Data
☐ Categorize data as qualitative or quantitative
☐ Evaluate published reports and graphs that are based on data by considering: experimental design, appropriateness of the data analysis, and the soundness of the conclusions
☐ Identify and describe sources of bias and its effect, drawing conclusions from data
☐ Determine whether the data to be analyzed is univariate or bivariate
☐ Determine when collected data or display of data may be biased
☐ Understand the differences among various kinds of study (e.g., sample, survey, observation, controlled experiment, census)
☐ Determine factors which may affect the outcome of a survey
☐ Categorize quantitative data as discrete or continuous.
High School Statistics | Probability
☐ Know the definition of conditional probability and use it to solve for probabilities in finite sample spaces
☐ Determine the number of elements in a sample space and the number of favorable events
☐ Calculate the probability of an event and its complement
☐ Determine empirical probabilities based on specific sample data
☐ Determine, based on calculated probability of a set of events, if:
* some or all are equally likely to occur
* one is more likely to occur than another
* whether or not an event is certain to happen or not to happen
☐ Calculate the probability of:
* a series of independent events
* two mutually exclusive events
* two events that are not mutually exclusive
☐ Calculate theoretical probabilities, including geometric applications
☐ Calculate empirical probabilities
☐ Know and apply the binomial probability formula to events involving the terms exactly, at least, and at most
☐ Quincunx
☐ Use tree diagrams to aid in the calculation of probabilities
☐ Understand how 'false positives' or 'false negatives' can influence the results of an experiment, and use tree diagrams to work out their probabilities.
☐ Calculations of 'Shared birthday' and related problems in probability.
High School Statistics | Combinations
☐ Determine the number of possible events, using counting techniques or the Fundamental Principle of Counting
☐ Determine the number of possible arrangements (permutations) of a list of items
☐ Calculate the number of possible permutations (nPr) of n items taken r at a time
☐ Calculate the number of possible combinations (nCr) of n items taken r at a time
☐ Use permutations, combinations, and the Fundamental Principle of Counting to determine the number of elements in a sample space and a specific subset (event)
☐ Differentiate between situations requiring permutations and those requiring combinations
High School Statistics | Statistics
☐ Find the percentile rank of an item in a data set and identify the point values for first, second, and third quartiles
☐ Identify the relationship between the independent and dependent variables from a scatter plot (positive, negative, or none)
☐ Understand the difference between correlation and causation
☐ Identify variables that might have a correlation but not a causal relationship
☐ Compare and contrast the appropriateness of different measures of central tendency for a given data set
☐ Construct a histogram, cumulative frequency histogram, and a box-and-whisker plot, given a set of data
☐ Understand how the five statistical summary (minimum, maximum, and the three quartiles) is used to construct a box-and-whisker plot
☐ Create a scatter plot of bivariate data
☐ Analyze and interpret a frequency distribution table or histogram, a cumulative frequency distribution table or histogram, or a box-and-whisker plot
☐ Use the normal distribution as an approximation for binomial probabilities
☐ Quincunx
☐ Calculate measures of central tendency with group frequency distributions
☐ Calculate measures of dispersion (range, quartiles, interquartile range, standard deviation, variance) for both samples and populations
☐ Know and apply the characteristics of the normal distribution
☐ Interpret within the linear regression model the value of the correlation coefficient as a measure of the strength of the relationship
☐ Use the Standardized Normal distribution table.
☐ Calculate the mean from a frequency table.
☐ In relation to the Normal Distribution, understand what is meant by the 1 sigma, 2 sigma and 3 sigma limits and how to calculate them.
☐ Understand what is meant by the Standard Normal Distribution; and know how to standardize a Normal Distribution with known mean and standard deviation.
☐ Understand what is meant by an Outlier and how it can affect the values of the mean, median and mode.
☐ Outliers
☐ Understand that data can be positively or negatively skewed, or have no skew (as in the case of the Normal Distribution).
☐ Know how to construct a grouped frequency distribution, and make decisions on the optimum size of each group.
☐ Calculate the value of the Pearson Correlation Coefficient from a set of bivariate data