Critical Values & Margins of Error

• This lesson applies information about sample size, critical values, standard error, and confidence intervals to analyze a study about the safety of tap water in Flint, Michigan.
• The lesson includes a step-by-step video, guided questions, student handout, reflection form, presentation slides, teacher guide, and answer key.

Positives

• This lesson applies statistics to address a current public health issue.
• This is a great way to learn about how statistics is used in experimental design and the importance of large sample sizes.

Additional Prerequisites

• This resource is the second part of a 2-part set of lessons on applying statistics to the Flint water crisis.
• Students should have an understanding of confidence intervals and how to apply them before using this resource and should know terms like standard error, standard deviation, and z-score.
• Teachers and students need to create a free account to access the materials.

Differentiation

• Parts of the video can be used in civics classes during lessons about public policy related to health and the role regulations play in shaping the health of communities.
• This resource includes free guides on how to use the resource in different classroom settings, including in-person, online, and hybrid settings.
• They suggest using the video in a flipped classroom format, where students watch the lecture at home and then come to class to discuss and work through the questions.
• This lesson could be used to supplement science classes when discussing study results, the scientific method, or when performing lab procedures that require replication, control groups, and data analysis.