For this Scimatics 9 project, I worked with Makenna to create a Keynote presentation to explain the findings of our survey on screen time, family time and age as well as what correlation and causation is and the differences between them.
⚠️ It should be noted that in our Keynote video we said that the strength of a correlation is determined by the sharpness of the linear trend line, however we were mistaken. (We had a substitute teacher for a week during some of the time we should have been building knowledge. Because of that we didn’t learn as much as we should have as it’s quite difficult for Non-PLP teachers to teach PLP.) The correct description of what correlation and how to determine the strength (and a few other important points) are as follows:
- Positive correlation is when two variables move up or down in the same direction together.
- Negative Correlation is when two variables move in opposite directions.
- Causation is when one variable causes the other.
- Correlation doesn’t always equal causation.
Our driving question for this project was “how are correlation and causation different?” I feel that we did a great job of answering this in our video so make sure it check it out above. (Click here for the specific part we talk about the driving question.)
For Milestone 2, we worked as a class to fill out a Numbers correlation template with our height and hand size to begin our journey to understanding correlation and causation.
I think that we were able to accomplish the curricular competency “Applying and Innovating: Contribute to care for self, others, community, and world through individual or collaborative approaches” by working together to solve a common goal while respecting others during the process.
Milestone 3 was planning and creating our survey. We did this milestone a bit backwards, as we created our questions right within Google Forms instead of brainstorming them in advance.
After making our questions in Google Forms we wrote out the ones we were planning to use to actually make our correlation and causation graphs. By creating an aesthetically pleasing survey with effective questions, we were able to extend our ability to perform the curricular competency “Planning and conducting: Select and use appropriate equipment, including digital technologies, to systematically and accurately collect and record data.” You’re welcome to view and fill out our survey for fun, but your response will not be used or reviewed.
Then we put the data from our survey into our correlation and causation graphs in Numbers for Milestone 4. This was quite challenging because we had difficulties finding a strong correlation, probably because we had a false understanding of what correlation and causation is.
It took us five tries, but we were able to finally reach an extending level of accomplishment on the curricular competency “Communicating and Representing: Use mathematical vocabulary and language to contribute to mathematical discussions.” We did this by identifying the type of correlation and if it had causation, as well as formatting it so that it was easy to understand our findings. We also showed our ability to extend on this competency by using mathematical langue in our Keynote video presentation.
Then we got to create the Keynote presentation, which I had a lot of fun with and spent most of my weekend on. Once we created the Keynote, we used iMovie and a lapel mic to record voiceovers in the almost sound proof band practice room. If you listen closely, you may be able to hear the trumpets playing the Last Post for the Grade 10,11 and 12 Remembrance Day assembly in the background…
I honestly learned so much about surveys, graphs, correlation and causation in this project. One of the things I am going to keep in mind that I learned from Milestone 4, is that you need to obtain numerical responses from your survey in order to put them into graphs. If you didn’t watch our video at the top of this post yet, make sure to take the time to do so!
I also had a lot of fun collaborating with my partner for this project, Makenna. Thank you Makenna for being a reliable and entertaining partner, I look forward to working with you again in the future!
Thanks for reading, feel free to leave a comment or question below! 👋
Thanks Fraser (and Makena). The video was very well done and easy to follow, but the write up was a bit more informative. I liked the bit about the substitute teachers.
ACJ – Grandpa