Buff Bay High School

Mathematics
School-Based Assessment

Candidate Name & Number:

 Devon Williams - 1000111200

 Zenith DeMontagnac - 1000110327
 Darnell Shackleford - 1000110904

Centre Name: Buff Bay High School

Centre Number: 100011

Subject: Mathematics

Territory: Jamaica
Contents
Acknowledgement................................................................................................................................3
Project Title.........................................................................................................................................4
Introduction.........................................................................................................................................5
Method of Data Collection..................................................................................................................6
Presentation of Data............................................................................................................................7
Analysis of Data.................................................................................................................................10
Discussion of Findings.......................................................................................................................11
Conclusion..........................................................................................................................................12
Appendix............................................................................................................................................13

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 Acknowledgement

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the almighty creator who
has given me strength throughout the endeavour of completing this project. I also express my
thanks to my teacher Mr. Patterson, who never gave up on me and helped me to complete the
project all while motivating me the same. I must also express my appreciation to the student
volunteers who aided in the completion of this project who were willing to write and type a
select passage for me to gather my data. Thank you all for your help, it would not have been
possible without you.

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 Project Title

Is typing a passage with a keyboard faster than writing the same passage by hand with a pen
or pencil on paper.

4
 Introduction

In modern society we live in today, technology has become a necessity in our daily lives.
This is because it makes our lives easier and we have become reliant on it. One major way in
which technology is used is in writing. With the aid of technology, the world of writing has
been revolutionised in such a way that laptops and computers can be used to create texts,
notes and other pieces of writing. This way of composing texts is known as typing. The other
way of composing texts is by writing them. Writing is the act of relaying texts on paper by
hand with the aid of a pen or pencil. Many people prefer typing over writing because it tends
to be easier for most people. Although typing may be easier than writing, it may not be the
most efficient way of composing pieces of writing. For this reason, the content of this project
will seek to investigate which means of composing texts, whether typing or writing is more
efficient by determining if the act of typing with a keyboard is faster than writing with a pen
or pencil on paper.

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 Method of Data Collection

To collect information to complete this project it was necessary to get twenty (20) student
volunteers who were willing to aid in the completion of the project. Firstly, a passage was
retrieved from the internet that contains exactly 73 words. After this was done, each volunteer
was asked to type the passage discounting any incorrectly typed words. The time taken for
each of them to type the passage was recorded by using a stopwatch. Finally, they were asked
to write precisely the same passage legibly and the time taken for each student to re-write the
passage was also recorded. The data that was collected and recorded in a suitable table and
was entitled table1.

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 Presentation of Data

The table below represents the data that was collected:

Table 1

Time for Typing Time for Writing

Volunteer #
(min) (min)
#1 4.4 5.4
#2 3.4 4.8
#3 3.9 4.3
#4 6.7 5.2
#5 7.2 5.6
#6 4.6 4.8
#7 5.7 3
#8 6.3 3.2
#9 6.2 4.7
#10 4.3 5.3
#11 2.8 3.7
#12 3.2 3.4
#13 5.6 3.2
#14 6.4 4.4
#15 3.7 4.1
#16 4.1 4.5
#17 5.9 3.9
#18 7.4 3.8
#19 3.4 4.9
#20 3.1 3.7

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The bar chart below shows the times side by side for each volunteer.

Comparative bar chart showing the time in mins to write

and type the passage
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Time in mins

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Volunteer

Time for Typing (min) Time for Writing (min)

The table below shows the time in difference between typing and writing.

Time for Typing Time for Writing

Time Difference
(min) (min)
4.4 5.4 -10
3.4 4.8 -1.4
3.9 4.3 -0.4
6.7 5.2 +1.5
7.2 5.6 +1.6
4.6 4.8 -0.2
5.7 3 +2.7
6.3 3.2 +3.1
6.2 4.7 +1.5
4.3 5.3 -1.0
2.8 3.7 -0.9
3.2 3.4 -0.2
5.6 3.2 +2.4
6.4 4.4 +2.0
3.7 4.1 -0.4
4.1 4.5 -0.4
5.9 3.9 +2.0
7.4 3.8 +3.6
3.4 4.9 -1.5
3.1 3.7 -0.6
Table 2

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The table below shows the average time it took each volunteer to complete the passage

Time for Typing Time for Writing

Volunteer #
(min) (min)
#1 4.4 5.4
#2 3.4 4.8
#3 3.9 4.3
#4 6.7 5.2
#5 7.2 5.6
#6 4.6 4.8
#7 5.7 3
#8 6.3 3.2
#9 6.2 4.7
#10 4.3 5.3
#11 2.8 3.7
#12 3.2 3.4
#13 5.6 3.2
#14 6.4 4.4
#15 3.7 4.1
#16 4.1 4.5
#17 5.9 3.9
#18 7.4 3.8
#19 3.4 4.9
#20 3.1 3.7
Mean Time 98.3/20 = 4.9 mins 85.9/20 = 4.3 mins
Table 3

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 Analysis of Data
The data proves that 55% of the volunteers typed more efficiently than how they wrote and
the remaining 45% of the student volunteers wrote faster than how they typed. See the
calculation below:

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Percentage of volunteers that type faster than how they write ×100=55 %
20

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Percentage of volunteers that write faster than how they type ×100=45 %
20

When the data that is represented in table 1 is taken into consideration, it is obvious that the
time taken to type and write the passage varies among each student volunteer. The shortest
time that was taken to type the passage was 2.8 mins while the shortest time taken to write
the passage was 3.0 mins. Typing the passage would immediately appear to take less time
than writing it when these figures are compared, however, the two shortest times taken
cannot, on their own, determine whether or not typing the passage is more efficient and time-
saving than writing it. To determine which took less time, the overall averages of the times
taken by the student volunteers to type and then write the passage had to be taken into
consideration. This was found by determining the means of the time that was recorded. The
average time taken to type the passage was determined to be 4.9 mins while the average time
taken to write the passage was determined to be 4.3 mins. On average it took 0.6 seconds
longer to type the passage than it took to write it.

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 Discussion of Findings

The data expressed in the table was solely dependent on the skills and capabilities of each
volunteer. This is highlighting the fact that some people can type faster than how they write
and some can write faster than how they type. This is why the average time it took overall to
type and write the passage had to be considered. The average time expresses the central or
typical value in the set of data and this can be used to determine which between typing and
writing ultimately takes less time. It is because of the capabilities of each student why the
average value has to calculated to get a central value to determine whether typing or writing
is faster. By relying on the average and not the individual data it cuts back on the limitation
of the difference in the student's capabilities and gives an overall value that can be related to
all the volunteers.

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 Conclusion

It can be concluded through the results of the project that writing overall takes less time than
typing. Since each volunteer has different capabilities when typing and writing it came down
to the average time that was taken to type and to write. The average time taken to type the
passage was 4.9 min while the average time taken to write the passage was 4.3 min. Hence
this concludes that it takes less time to write the passage than to type it.

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 Appendix

The passage

Oceans and lakes have much in common, but they are also quite different. Both are bodies of
water, but oceans are very large bodies of saltwater, while lakes are much smaller bodies of
freshwater. Lakes are usually surrounded by land, while oceans are what surround continents.
Both have plants and animals living in them. The ocean is home to the largest animals on the
planet, whereas lakes support much smaller forms of life.

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