Zaineh Saleh
Editor in Chief
When you picture a group of students studying AP Statistics you probably think of a bunch of confused students copying off a whiteboard filled with equations.
Barbie and bungee jumping is probably the last thing you would expect statistics students to talk about. However, the AP statistics teacher Stephen Lange, has incorporated the activity in an attempt to teach students about linear regression and even brought his children’s dolls.
The activity took around 2 weeks to get to the finale as students were expected to collect data to predict the amount of rubber bands that should be used to give Barbie a safe jump from a height of 400 cm without her hitting the floor. The only materials they were allowed to use were rubber bands
“It was a lot of fun and very different than our typical lessons,” said Deborah Ruiz a SAS junior. “I think my group won for sure.”
The students first collected data to choose the number of rubber bands and then created a least squares regression line to measure the drop. After several practices, and lessons to understand the basis of regression, they were ready to take their Barbies bungee jumping.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Stephen Lange an SAS statistics teacher. “Students love the stats medics lessons I use, as they tend to be memorable.