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Lesson 15: Americans’ Time on Task

Lesson 15: Americans' Time on Task

Objective:

Introduction to Time Use Campaign. Students will explore a multimedia graphic that incorporates data from the American Time Use Survey to spark their interest about how they spend their time. They will begin to learn how to evaluate reports that make claims based on data by reading the Pew Research Center's article Teens and social media: Key findings from Pew Research Center surveys.

Materials:

  1. Computers

  2. Data Collection Devices

  3. Interactive multimedia graphic: The New York Time's How Different Groups Spend Their Time found at: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801- metrics-graphic.html

  4. Article: Pew Research Center's Teens and social media: Key findings from Pew Research Center surveys found at: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/24/teens-and-social-media- key-findings-from-pew-research-center-surveys/

  5. K-L-W Graphic Organizer (LMR_TR_K-L-W Chart)

  6. Time Use Campaign guidelines (LMR_U1_Campaign_Time_Use)

Vocabulary:

evaluate claim

Essential Concepts:

Essential Concepts:

Learning to examine other analyses is an important part of statistical thinking.

Lesson:

  1. Become familiar with the Time-Use Campaign Guidelines (shown at the end of this lesson), particularly the big questions, to help guide students during the campaign (see Campaign Guidelines in Teacher Resources).

  2. In pairs, ask students to make predictions based on the big questions in the Time-Use Campaign Guidelines.

  3. Next, inform students that The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collects data about Americans’ daily time use and that they will be exploring time use through an interactive graphic.

  4. Ask students to go to the multimedia graphic at the following URL: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801- metrics-graphic.html

  5. Students will spend 10 minutes exploring the interactive graphic. Their task is to answer the following questions (display questions to students):

    1. What variables are represented in this graphic? Answer: The variables represented are activities that Americans spend their time doing. These include sleeping, eating, traveling socializing, etc.

    2. Explain what the graphic is telling you. Answer: The graphic shows how much time Americans over the age of 15 are spending doing these activities. This information is broken down by different categories of Americans (e.g., sex, ethnicity) and the percentage of Americans doing particular activity at a particular time (e.g., 5% of Americans are working at 6:00 am). The average time spent on a particular activity is also shown (e.g., average time spent at work for all Americans is 3 hours and 25 minutes).

    3. Where did the data come from? Answer: The data come from thousands of Americans over the age of 15 who took a survey recalling every minute of a day in 2008.

    4. What are some interesting findings? Be prepared to share. Answers will vary.

  6. Ask students to share their findings in pairs. Each pair will agree on and select one finding to share with the class. In a Whip Around, ask each pair to share their finding.

  7. Inform students that they will continue to investigate Americans’ daily time use. Using the KLW graphic organizer, read out loud the title of The Washington Post article: Teens Are Spending More Time Consuming Social Media, On Mobile Devices. Ask them to write what they know about the topic in the Know column.

    Note to Teacher: If this is the first time using KLW, please take time to provide an overview of the graphic organizer.

  8. Next, ask students to read the article individually:
    https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/24/teens-and-social-media-key-findings-from-pew-research-center-surveys/

  9. As they read, students may complete the Learn column of the KLW graphic organizer.

  10. Ask students to complete the Want to Learn column when they finish reading the article.

  11. When reading a newspaper, magazine, or blog that includes statistical analysis, it is important to evaluate, or think carefully, about claims that these articles state as fact.

  12. Ask students to work in teams to evaluate the article based on the questions below:

    1. Who was observed and what were the variables observed? Answer: 1,316 U.S. teens (13 to 17-year-olds), and one parent from each household, were surveyed. The variables had to do with experiences with social media – time spent on YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and the effects it had on them.

    2. What statistical investigative questions were they trying to answer? Possible statistical investigative question: How much time per day does today’s typical 13 to 17-year-old spend on TikTok?

    3. Who collected the data? Answer: The Pew Research Center conducted the study but the survey was conducted online by Ipsos.

    4. How was the data collected? Answer: Online by Ipsos via a survey from April 14 to May 4, 2022.

    5. What claim(s) did the article make? Answer: There were 11 claims made in the article. The first claim: "Majorities of teens report ever using YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat."

    6. What are some statistics that the article used to make the claim(s)? Examples include: Two-thirds of teens report using TikTok, followed by roughly six-in-ten who say they use Instagram (62%) and Snapchat (59%). Six-in-ten teens say they think they have little (40%) or no control (20%) over the personal information that social media companies collect about them. Some 22% of teens think their parents are extremely or very worried about them using social media.

  13. Select a whole group share-out/discussion strategy from the Instructional Strategies Teacher Resource to discuss the answers to the evaluation questions.

  14. Inform students that they will engage in the Time-Use Participatory Sensing campaign (LMR_U1_Campaign_Time_Use) and will begin to collect data about their own time use.

    Reminder: Once logged into the app or the browser-based version, students may go to Campaigns to see the campaigns in which they are participating. They can then add the campaign by tapping the name of the campaign. If no campaigns are visible, ask them to click the refresh option.

  15. Emphasize that this data will be tracked throughout the day via a log of some sort – it might be helpful to split the log into three intervals where students pause and think about what they did before school, after school and in the evening. Once the log is complete/accounts for all 1,440 minutes of their day, students should then submit the survey corresponding to that day. They will keep a log for at least 5 days (of which 2 days include a weekend) but no more than 10 days.

Class Scribes:

One team of students will give a brief talk to discuss what they think the 3 most important topics of the day were.

Homework & Next Day

For the next 5 days, students will collect data using the Time Use campaign on their smart devices or via web browser.

LAB 1F: A Diamond in the Rough

and

Data Collection Monitoring

  1. Data Collection Monitoring: Display the IDS Campaign Monitoring Tool, found at https://portal.idsucla.org Click on Campaign Monitor and sign in.

    1. See User List and sort by Total. Ask: Who has collected the most data so far?

    2. Click on the pie chart. Ask: How many active users are there? How many inactive users are there?

    3. See Total Responses. How many responses have been submitted?

    4. Using TPS, ask students to think about what they can do to increase their data collection.

  2. Inform students that you will conduct another data collection check with the whole class in a couple of days, and that they will understand the private vs. shared data after they have completed the campaign collection.

Complete Lab 1F prior to Lesson 16