Y8 Statistics Assessment Do Y8 Boys Get Better Math Grades Than Y8 Girls?

By Nathan 8E

Introduction:
Our Current unit in math is statistics. In this unit we are learning about graphs, tables and statistics. For this assessment each student in year 8 had to choose a topic, research, create a survey about the topic then write a final report on the results that have been collected. I have done research and a survey about the math grades of year 8 boys and girls. In my report I will talk about how I did the research on this topic, I will also talk about the results of my research and/or survey.

Research Question:
Do Y8 Boys Get Better Math Grades Than Y8 Girls?

Hypothesis:
I think that Y8 boys will get better grades in math than Y8 girls because on the honour roll of my year there are more boys than girls thus showing that they would have to get more 7s and math is a good subject where one can a 7 with a lot of effort put in.

Why I Chose It:

I chose this topic because math is one of my favourite subjects and I have heard that there is a stereotype of girls being smarter than boys in math. I wonder if the stereotype is true or not and if it is boys who are better in maths than girls.

Reference to ATL:
I think that the ATL I used was organization because I had to organize the grades, add them together and categorize them by using a frequency table.

Data Collection:
I got my information by asking my math teacher Ms Lee for 20 male year 8 grades (without names) and for 20 female year 8 grades (without names as well). I wanted for the number of male and girl grades even so that it would be fairer and the answer to my question would be more accurate. I used a sample because the entire population of year 8 is above 110 and it would be very hard to collect and I thought that statistically it would not increase the quality of the outcome significantly. The number of boys and girls in year 8 is also not even and in my sample the number of boys and girls is even. I used two sets of frequency tables to organize my raw data. I calculated the mean, mode and median underneath the tables. My raw data table is on the last page in the appendix.

Frequency Tables:

Y8 Statistics Assessment
Grades of Boys in Year 8
Score Overall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total Frequency x Score: Frequency 0 1 5 11 3 0 0 20 0 + 2 + 15 + 44 + 15 + 0 + 0 = 76 Frequency: 0 + 1 + 5 + 11 +3 + 0 + 0 = 20 Mean: = Sum of Frequency x Score column Sum of Frequency Colum = 76 20 = 3.8 Median: 20 divided by 2= 10 and (10+1) is the middle number. = 10th and 11th= 4. Mode: The number that occurs the most often = 4 Range: Highest score minus the lowest score (Only the scores that appear in the frequency) =3 Frequency x Score 0 2 15 44 15 0 0 76

Grades of Girls in Year 8

Y8 Statistics Assessment
Score Overall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total Frequency x Score: Frequency 0 1 4 10 5 0 0 20 0 + 2 + 12 + 40 + 25 + 0 + 0 = 79 Frequency 0 + 1 + 4 + 10 + 5 + 0 + 0 = 20 Mean: = Sum of Frequency x Score Colum Sum of Frequency Colum = 79 20 = 3.95 Median: 20 divided by 2 = 10 and (10+1) is the middle number. = 10 th and 11th= 4 Mode: The number that occurs the most = 4 Range: Highest score minus the lowest score (Only the scores that appear in the frequency) =3 Frequency x Score 0 2 12 40 25 0 0 79

Graph:

Y8 Statistics Assessment
This graph shows the frequency for both the girls and boys gradess. It is a column graph and it is comparing the grades of year 8 girls and year 8 boys.

Sample Of Year 8 Boys and Girls Math Grades

12 Number Of People 10 8 6 4 2 0 1 2 3 4 Grades 5 6 7 Boy Girls

Analysis:
In the graph above it shows that there is only one equal pair of columns for the overall grade of 2. There are more blue coloured columns on the left had side for boys. There are also more red columns on the right. There is a trend showing that if there were more blue columns on the left there would be less on the right. There is a similar pattern to an increase and drop for the blue column. It first starts out low and rises then drops. The graph shows that girls get better grades because there are more boys than girls in the left area of the graph where the grades are low.

Y8 Statistics Assessment
Graph:
In this graph I used the means of the data to show if boys or girls got better grades in math. I thought that this was the best way to show the grades because the mean is the number that gives you the general idea of the table or results. Or the mean is also the number of all the scores sorted evenly .

Mean Of Sample Of Year 8 Boys and Girls Math Grades

4 3.95 Grade (Mean) 3.9 3.85 3.8 3.75 3.7 Boys Gender Girls Series1

Analysis:
This graph shows that girls get better grades than boys. There is only difference of 0.15 points. There is no trend is this graph because there are only two columns which is not enough to show a trend. I think that this is a better way of showing the data because there are only two columns which will clearly show which is higher than the other.

Comments and Explanations:

Y8 Statistics Assessment
The Answer To The Research Question: After having to analyse and organize the difficult information I got, I have answered the research question Do Y8 Boys Get Better Math Grades Than Y8 Girls? According to the tables and graphs in the previous pages the answer is: no, Year 8 girls get better math grades than year 8 boys. My hypothesis was wrong because I thought that year 8 boys would get better math grades than year 8 girls. I thought that year 8 boys would get better math grades because there were more boys on the honour role than girls. Comment Of The Method Of Data Collection: I think that my method of data collection was very effect because I got the data quickly but I think that I could have used more results by asking for them from my teacher. I was hoping that my results would come from a wider range of classes as well because my results were from only two classes and a wider range would have made my results more accurate. Comments On The Graphs: I think that the column graph was the best graph to present my data because a line and scatter graph is used for showing changes over time and my data doesnt show any change over time. I also think that a column graph is better than a pie graph because I pie graph uses percentage and doesnt show the results that are 0. Pie graphs can also have results that are close such as 6 and 7 close to the same size which will be hard to see. What Went Well, What Didnt, Improvements: I think that the parts that went well were when I was collecting data, organizing the data and turning my tables into graphs. I think those were the parts where I did well because I had no trouble with them and they went smoothly. I dont think that the area of explaining the mean, median, mode and range wasnt easy because I had to explain them and how to solve them were hard. I think that I need to improve on how I am going to finish the report in time for the deadline and also on how I will explain my graphs and tables.

Conclusion:
I decided to research about whether boys in year 8 get better math grades than year 8 girls. I did this because I was curious about how my year level was doing in maths, seeing that maths is my favourite subject. I also did this because I wanted to know if the stereotype of girls being smarter than boys were true. My research question was Do Y8 Boys Get Better Math Grades than Y8 Girls? which led to my hypothesis being that boys would get better grades than girls because there are more boys on the honour role than girls which means that boys would get better grades than girls. My hypothesis was wrong according to the 40 students grades I received. Girls get better grades then boys in maths. This is not very accurate because it is not the entire population

Y8 Statistics Assessment
of year 8. I also think that there are kids who get better grades in other classes because 40 people dont even equal two year 8 classes. If I had to make my results more accurate I would have to collect all of the math grades of every year 8 student to find the real answer/ the truth. I have learned a lot in this unit because I learned how to make graphs, tables, histograms and how to write a maths report. I also learned how to make a frequency table. This has become a really important learning experience for me.