The 5-Second Challenge

This activity challenges students to get as close as possible to 5 seconds - and later 20 seconds - using a stopwatch. After asking them to do so with eyes open and eyes closed, some fun discussions on variability and standard deviation ensue. This lesson assumes students have some sense of what standard deviation "looks like" (through various graphs), but does not assume they know precisely what it is or how to calculate it. There is an option to end with a demo on calculating standard deviation using a table in Desmos before students try it themselves by hand or with technology. Thanks to Allan Rossman (@allanjrossman) again for a nice intro context using fictional restaurant ratings and to Jay Chow (@mrchowmath) for some behind the scenes assistance in creating the activity.

By Juan Gomez