TinkerPlots Project
In the TinkerPlots project, funded by the National Science Foundation, we created a software tool and curriculum materials for teaching data analysis and statistics in middle schools. The software we developed, called TinkerPlots, offers a construction set rather than a menu of ready-made graph types, and helps orient students and teachers to the inquiry-driven nature of data analysis. The development of TinkerPlots was done in collaboration with teams who developed comprehensive instructional materials for middle school mathematics.
The completed software package, named TinkerPlots, is commercially available from Key Curriculum Press.
This project was supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation (DRL-9818946). Opinions expressed here are those of the project staff and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.TinkerPlots Staff
Principal investigator: Cliff Konold
Software designer: Craig Miller
Curriculum Projects
Classroom activities and materials for teaching statistics with TinkerPlots were developed and tested at the following locations.
Connected Mathematics Project
Locations: Michigan State University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
| Curriculum author | Susan Friel | UNC Chapel Hill |
| Master teachers | Rebecca Gibson | Duke Schol for Children Middle School, Durham NC |
| Kathy Jansen | Duke Schol for Children Middle School, Durham NC | |
| Bill O'Connor | Duke Schol for Children Middle School, Durham NC | |
| Jim Mamer | ||
| Research assistant | Marie Turini |
Mathematics in Context
Location: University of Wisconson at Madison.
| Project director | Meg Meyer | U. Wisconson |
| Curriculum author | Arthur Bakker | Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht Univ. |
| Master teachers | Ann Frederickson | Savanna Oaks Middle School, Madison WI |
| Teri Hedged Jansen | Savanna Oaks Middle School, Madison WI | |
| Doug McFarlane | Savanna Oaks Middle School, Madison WI | |
| Project staff | Kay Schultz | U. Wisconson |
MATHScape
Location: Educational Development Center (EDC), Newton MA.
| Curriculum author | Amy Brodesky | EDC |
| Master teachers | Jim Stoddard | Edith C. Baker School, Brookline MA |
| Amy Doherty | Edith C. Baker School, Brookline MA |
MATH Thematics
Location: University of Montana at Missoula.
| Curriculum authors | Rick Billstein | U. Montana |
| Jim Williamson | U. Montana | |
| Master teacher | Linda Tetley | Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Jefferson City MO |
Advisory Board
Robert Gould, UCLA Department of Statistics
Andee Rubin, TERC, Cambridge MA
Consultants
Joan Garfield, University of Minnesota
Bill Finzer, KCP Technologies (developer of Fathom)