Citizen Math used to be called Mathalicious. If you have a current account on Mathalicious, you can use those credentials to log in to your Citizen Math account. Learn more here.

Overrated

How much should you trust online ratings?

Login to add lessons to your favorites

Overrated

How much should you trust online ratings?

Login to add lessons to your favorites
Log In or Sign Up to Access Lesson Materials
Overrated - Student Handout.pdf
Log In or Sign Up to Access Lesson Materials
Overrated - Teacher Guide.pdf
Log In or Sign Up to Access Lesson Materials

How much should you trust online ratings? When you’re shopping for items online, it can be hard to know which to buy. Star ratings are a helpful way to quickly compare products, but they can also be misleading.

In this lesson, students use mean, median, and mode to analyze the trustworthiness of 5-star rating systems and suggest ways to make them more reliable.

REAL WORLD TAKEAWAYS

  • When there is a small number of reviews the next review has a bigger impact on the mean than with larger numbers.
  • Plenty of online reviews are fake.
  • More reviews might be better to rely on than a small number.

MATH OBJECTIVES

  • Calculate mean, median, and mode and compare the appropriateness in context
Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.
Grade 6
Data & Distributions
Grade 6
Data & Distributions
Content Standards
Mathematical Practices

Other Grade 6 Lessons

Jenius!

How does what we see affect what we feel?

Grade 6
Ratios & Unit Rates
Great anytime, including at the beginning of a unit before students have any formal introduction to the topic.

New-Tritional Info

Should fast food restaurants rewrite their menus in terms of exercise?

Grade 6
Equations & Expressions
Great anytime, including at the beginning of a unit before students have any formal introduction to the topic.

Tip Jar

What’s the fairest way to tip at a restaurant?

Grade 6
Percents
Great anytime, including at the beginning of a unit before students have any formal introduction to the topic.

Downside Up

Is there an upside to having a bad day?

Grade 6
Positive & Negative Integers
Great anytime, including at the beginning of a unit before students have any formal introduction to the topic.

Scalped

Why do concert tickets cost so much?

Grade 6
Percents
Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.

Jenius!

How does what we see affect what we feel?

Grade 6
Ratios & Unit Rates
Great anytime, including at the beginning of a unit before students have any formal introduction to the topic.

New-Tritional Info

Should fast food restaurants rewrite their menus in terms of exercise?

Grade 6
Equations & Expressions
Great anytime, including at the beginning of a unit before students have any formal introduction to the topic.

Tip Jar

What’s the fairest way to tip at a restaurant?

Grade 6
Percents
Great anytime, including at the beginning of a unit before students have any formal introduction to the topic.

Downside Up

Is there an upside to having a bad day?

Grade 6
Positive & Negative Integers
Great anytime, including at the beginning of a unit before students have any formal introduction to the topic.

Scalped

Why do concert tickets cost so much?

Grade 6
Percents
Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.