SBA GUIDE

The Purpose of the SBA Project

It is the view of CXC and Mathematics Teachers across the region that students are not

transitioning fluently enough from "School Math" to real world applications. This has caused

many governments to invest and train members of the education systems in the delivery of

STEM and STEAM approaches in an attempt to bridge that gap between the real world and the

classroom.

The Mathematics SBA is an attempt by CXC to bridge that same divide and forever link real

world, everyday mathematics to the theoretical concepts discussed in the classroom. In CXC's

own words, the project may require the candidate to collect data or demonstrate athe application

of Mathematics in everyday situations.

The Project Title

It should be clear and concise and related to a real world problem. The title may be in the form of

a question or a precise and clear statement of intent, call it a hypothesis if you wish, but its

intention is to show what you will be trying to accomplish

Introduction

The introduction for the project should be well thought out and should be a comprehensive

description of the project itself. It should set the background for what you intend to do. The

objectives [whatever you plan to accomplish] should be stated in the introduction and those

objectives should be very clear and precise.

Method of Data Collection

The method that you use to collect your data needs to be stated clearly here. If you plan to use a

survey, a questionnaire, an experiment, an investigation... You must ensure that your Method is

free from flaws as a flawed method will lead to unreliable data and if your data is unreliable then

whatever conclusions you come up with will be flawed. Take some time to talk with your

teacher/advisor/facilitator to make sure that your data collection method is sound. The

instrument that you intend to use to gather the data should be stated here, blank tables with

headings, survey questions, diagrams and general calculations about things you plan to discuss.

Presentation of Data

The Presentation of your data needs to be accurate and well organized. You may have used a

survey or a table to collect your initial information, this table needs to be properly laid out with

appropriate column headers that describe exactly what you are doing. In addition to the table you

will need to have at least one graph that shows your data. You may use any type of appropriate

statistical graph, bar char, pie chart, linear graph, histogram etc. Your graphs need to be well

labelled in terms of axes. You should also introduce the graph don't just place it on the page. For

example

The following graph shows ........ then add the graph.

If you are modelling data and looking for relationships or correlations I am recommending that

you use the software program GRAPH. It is excellent at plotting scatters and can easily draw a

best fit line or spline [You can talk to your teacher about that.] that can help you with your

analysis.
You also need to be accurate in your use of Mathematical concepts while you present your data

so make sure that everything is accurately worked out. It is recommended that you use Microsoft

Office or other spreadsheet program to generate your graphs. CXC does want you to use the

technology that is available.

Analysis of Data

As stated immediately above, this is a Mathematics SBA so you need to use the language of

Mathematics as well as use mathematics concepts in your Analysis. You must write in a coherent

way. You do not need to be wordy you only need to make sense of the data and write that

understanding in a way so that the reader can understand what you mean. You should be detailed

and you should be coherent. Try to answer the following questions as you write;

What is you data saying to you?

What patterns do you see, what trends?

Look at averages and compare quantities using parentages.

It’s kind of like writing a statistical report. CXC doesn't have these in the English A syllabus

anymore but your English teacher knows how and can help you so ask for help if you don't know

how.

Discussion of Findings

So you have done your analysis, what exactly have you found out?

It may be what you thought you would find, it may be different but your work has shown

something. What is that something. State it clearly and precisely. Please understand that your

discussion of findings MUST follow from your data and your analysis of that data. So don't try
to impress anyone by making claims that are not supported by the data that you have or by the

analysis you have done.

The conclusion

Ahh, relief, finally you have reached the end. Now all you need to do is make a conclusion and

you are good at this. After all your language teacher did teach you how to do it.

Regardless, just make a summary of what you have done in the analysis of data and in the

discussion of findings. That will be good enough.

And finally

 You do get marked for grammar and the use of English so make sure to at least spell

check your work. Yes it should be typed.

 Make sure you create a content page

 You definitely need a cover page with your personal and center information

 You will most likely use electronic submission so save your document, back it up

somewhere, email yourself a copy , etc, just make sure that when your teacher needs it

you have it

 And if you used a survey or questionnaire etc you can include those in an appendix at the

end of the back of the project

 Make sure your work is well organized

 AND Remember you have a 1000 word limit so avoid being wordy and write clearly and

to the point
 SBA IDEAS

Choose a topic that is suitable to you or modify an existing one. Please feel
free to suggest other topics

1. What is the optimum angle to throw a ___________ to achieve the

maximum distance?

1. javelin

2. Shot-put

3. Discus

2. What effect does the run up speed have on the distance covered in a

1. Long jump

2. Tripple jump

3. Does the location of a store affect the prices that are charged?

4. How does the amount of weight carried by an athlete affect their speed over

a 50m distance?

5. What is the cost incurred if a facuet/pipe is left dripping for a year?

6. What is the optimum range for scoring goals on a

1. Netball court

2. football field
 3. basketball court

7. Does the height of the shooter affect the percentage of goals scored in a

netball match?

8. Is the penalty spot the best place to shoot a penalty from on the football

field?

9. Does the size of the ball used affect the number of goals scored in a netball

match? [hint: try using a netball, football or volleyball to shoot goals and

compare the results]

10.Do drink companies give as much as they say they are? Here do a survey of

different brands of juice, measure the volume in each box and compare with

the number printed on the carton; a variant of this question could include

measuring mass of various products.

11.How are the winnings in a game affected if you use a biased die compared to

a fair die? [die is same as dice here]

12.Using the same cyclist is a BMX faster than a mountain bike over 100m?

13.Is typing faster than writing?

14.What is the effect of the run-up speed on the bowling of a cricket ball?

15.How does the type of ball used affect the distance traveled when a cricket

ball is hit?

16.What is the safest angle to mount a ladder against a wall?

17.Does running a curve take longer than running the same distance on a

straight?

18.What effect does speed have on the distance gained in a vertical jump/high

jump?

19.How long on average does it take a student to travel to " Place"? Place could

be your school. This could be done in the form of a survey and can generate

rich data and statical analysis.

20.How well do students in my class measure up against each other? here you

could investigate the heights of students in your class or their mass etc

21.How long on average does it take to be served in the Tuck shop line at your

school? This can be done in the form of a survey as well

22.What type of lunches should be sold at school X's canteen in order to

maximize student patronage? [Survey]

23.How much money do students spend on a daily basis? [survey]

24.What is the preferred type of vehicle used for public transportation in my

community? [Survey]

25.An investigation into the growth of "X type of seedlings" over a "X time

period"

26.Do students of form X spend more time on social media than on studying?

[survey]
Choosing the right type of graph to represent your data

Before you decide on what type of graph you need you first need to understand a

little about the type of data that you have collected while doing your SBA. CXC

does expect that you will choose graphs that you have used throughout the

curriculum especially while doing the statistics unit.

Numerical Data can be broadly classified in one of two groups.

 Discrete data

 Continuous data.

Discrete data can be described as data that can only take whole values, the kind of

data where a fraction value doesn't make much sense. Discrete data can be counted,

e.g. the number of people participating in a survey, the number of voters, number

of feet or fingers, number of vehicles passing a point within a given time etc.

Continuous data on the other hand is data that has to be measured. This type of

data can take any type of value including fractional values. Examples of

continuous data are time, length, mass, volume etc

Types of graphs that you may use in your SBA to represent discrete data

Line graph

Line graphs are used to track changes in data over a period of time. Line graphs

can also be used to compare changes over the same period of time for more than

one group. Line graphs are good for showing the periods of greatest or least change

over other periods. Examples could be used to show the number of tourists arriving

at a destination over 5 years, the cost of an item over a period of time the changes

in the price would be tracked, the growth of a plant over a period of time or the

changes in a budget over time

Bar Graph

Bar graphs are used to compare things between different groups or to track changes

over time. The same information that’s placed on a line graph can be placed on a

bar graph. However, when trying to measure change over time, bar graphs are best

when the changes are larger.

Pie Chart

Pie charts are best to use when you are trying to compare parts of a whole. They do

not show changes over time.

When graphing distributions containing continuous data such as on the table below

the options in Microsoft Excel which most people use become limited. You can put

this information in a bar graph as follows

However it is best to represent the information as a histogram. This kind of data

can also be used to draw a cumulative frequency curve or frequency polygon. A

sample cumulative frequency curve is shown below

If you are trying to find a relationship between two quantities such as in the table

below which shows the heights of students and the distance they can throw a

cricket ball then a scatter plot is useful.

This information is better plotted in software such as graph [you can find

the graph software here <https://www.padowan.dk>]that can do the scatter and

put a best fit line through it thus giving a better interpretation of the relationship.

This is seen below

 ANALYSIS OF DATA

Writing your data analysis for your CSEC SBA

One of the major weakness, so far, to emerge out of the Mathematics SBA project is the inability

of students to communicate what their data is saying. The ability to look for patterns in data, to

communicate their ideas and to communicate using Mathematical language is wanting.

The following snippets are meant to be samples that students can look at and get ideas of how to

write mathematically or how to write up a simple data analysis. This will not just be useful for

the Mathematics SBA but for all areas where a discussion of data is required.

Between 2000 and 2006, 1.98 million tonnes of bauxite was produced with 2006 being the year

with the highest production record of 350 thousand tonnes. The production of bauxite has been

steadily increasing over the period except in 2005 where there was a decline. There was an

average production of 282.9 thousand tonnes per year over the seven year period and a 75%

increase in production between the years 2000 and 2006.

The number of tourists visiting has increased steadily over the years 2000 to 2006 starting with

250 thousand in 2000 and ending with 450 thousand in 2006. The pattern is somewhat similar

but slightly different when the number of stop over visitors is examined. The 2001 figures

decreased slightly over 2000 but recovered by 2002. The same pattern was observed between

2003 and 2005, the number of stop over visitors has increased steadily however from 2004 to

2006. When both stop over and visitors are compared it is observed that the number of persons

stopping over is always 50% or less of those visiting.

When the savings patterns of Andy and Jane are compared it observed that Jane’s savings

increased steadily over the period January to July with the highest rate of savings. Andy’s rate of

saving increased from January to April with the highest rate of increase observed between

January and February. Andy’s savings decreased between April and June and rebounded in July.

In both instances the amount of money saved in July was higher than in January. Jane had a

100% increase while Andy had a 175% increase.

The data shows that almost one third of the students 33% used WhatsApp as

their main social media tool while a quarter, 25% used Facebook. Combined

Facebook and WhatsApp accounted for 58% of total usage while only 42% of

students used other APPS. Instagram was the third most popular with a 16%

usage, Twitter had 12% and Snapchat had 10%. The least popular social

media type was Telegram which only had a 4% usage.

A cursory look at the data shows that of the 100 students measured the

majority was in the interval 171 – 180 centimeters. 91% of the student’s

height were between 141 and 180 centimeters. Significantly however most

were concentrated in the 150 – 180 cm group, 83%. The mean height

observed was 163.1 centimeters.

 SAMPLE OF A MATHS SBA

SBA Title

Does it take longer to run 50m on the curved part of a track than it takes to run the

same distance on the straight?

Introduction

One of the most exciting events in the field of athletics is the 4x100 meters relay.

This event is a team event and much care and strategy goes into choosing the right

persons for the right legs. Athletes are chosen based on their ability to run the

curve, the straight or their ability to hand off or receive a baton. Some athletes

prefer to run the curves while others prefer to run on the straights. This SBA will

attempt to discover if it takes longer to run the same distance on the curve or the

straight part of the track.

Method of collecting data

The student researcher will ask 20 classmates during PE time to run 50m on the

curved part of the track. They will all be using the same lane. Each person’s time

will be measured using a stopwatch, rounded to the nearest tenth of a second and

the time will be recorded. Those same persons on a separate PE class time will be
asked to run 50m on the straight part of the track. The results will be measured in

the same way as the distance on the curve and recorded. The two sets of times will

then be compared and analyzed.

Presentation of data

The table below shows the data collected for the times taken to complete the 50m

on the curve and on the straight. The students here have been labeled using letters

and not their unique names.

The Histogram below shows the times taken to complete the 50m run on the

straight part of the track. The majority of the athletes finished the race within 7 – 8

seconds.
This histogram below shows the times taken for students to finish the 50m on the

curve. The Histogram shows that the majority of students finished within 8 – 9

seconds.
The comparative bar chart below shows the times side by side for each athlete who

completed the two events.

The Line graph below shows the times in seconds it takes to complete both events.

It gives a clearer picture of the times taken to complete both events and gives a

clearer basis for analysis of the events

Analysis of data

The 50m straight run had a range of 2.7 seconds. This means that it took 2.7

seconds for all the athletes to cross the finish line once the first person had crossed.

The 50m run on the curve had a range of 3.3 which is 0.6 which is 3.3 seconds

longer than on the straight. The average time taken to run the 50m on the straight is

given as 7.69 seconds. The average time taken to complete the 50 run on the curve

was calculated as 8.56 seconds. On average it took 0.87 longer to complete the

50m run on the curve than it took to complete the run on the straight. The average

speed taken complete the 50m run on the straight was calculated using the formula

S+D/T, this showed that the speed on the straight was 6.5m/s compared with

5.8m/s on the curve. The average speed over the 50m straight was faster than on
the curve by 0.7m/s.

The table below shows the difference in times taken to complete the two events for

each student. The table shows that all athletes had at least a marginal increase in

the time taken to complete the events.

Discussion of findings

While it was expected based on the observation of especially 4x100m relays where
the curves become very critical, that it would take longer to run the curve than on

the straight it needs to be pointed out that in an actual relay the person running the

third leg will often run just as fast as the person running the second or anchor leg

since those persons do not use a cold start out of the blocks.

The data shows that if both starts are cold, that is if both start out of the blocks,

then it takes a longer time to run the 50m around the curve than on the bend.

While in some cases there is a very small difference the fact remains that there was

a difference.

Conclusion

This SBA started with the assumption that it takes longer to run 50m on the curved

part of a track than on the straight assuming that in both cases a cold start is used.

The data shows beyond doubt that it does indeed take a longer time to run the

curve.