In ABE classes, lack of time is always the enemy. For the data analysis, statistics, and probability strand of the math curriculum frameworks, we tend to emphasize graph reading, because graphs can appear in three of the GED exams; we do a class or two on means, medians, and modes, and then it's on to the next unit of study. Since our class examples tend to be problems from a textbook, our students learn data analysis, but they don't really get a feel for data collection and organization as it occurs in the real world.

One simple, clean, real-life data project manageable in an ABE setting is to have an upper-level math class run a school-wide mock election and report the results of their experiment to the public in writing. This lets students see the entire experimental process from design through data collection, organization, and analysis; moreover, the written report allows them to hone their math-as-communication skills. The only unusual class materials are a ballot box (which can be as simple as a recycled photocopier paper box wrapped in colored paper) and enough crepe paper streamers to attract attention to the polling place.

My pre-GED math class at the Community Learning Center in Cambridge ran a mock election in the fall of 2000 and published the results in the school newspaper. With permission of the authors, the class essay is reprinted below.

Mock Election
The evening pre-GED math class did an experiment on presidential elections. We held a mock election for the whole school so that we could compare the results for the Community Learning Center (CLC), Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the United States. We thought this would be an easy experiment, but it didn't turn out that way.

Design of the Experiment
First, we made up the ballots. We decided to focus only on the president and vice president. We decided to use the honor system and allow students to vote without our class needing to be at the polling place, in the CLC lobby, to oversee the voting. We also allowed absentee ballots for students who would not normally come to the CLC on Monday, November 6, 2000.

Results of the Experiment
That night in class we counted the votes three times to make sure that they were correct. One hundred seventy -six people voted, but one ballot was disqualified because the voter had marked two X's. There were three write-in votes: one for Bill Bradley, one for Dr. Maya Angelou, and one for Teletubby Tinky Winky. At the end of class we posted the results on the door of our classroom, expecting to be able to compare them with the national results in our Wednesday class.

Then we waited... and waited... and waited... for six weeks to learn the results of the real election. We had to wait until Monday, December 18, 2000, to complete our project. We then organized the results into a chart that summarized the election results.

Vice President Al Gore won the CLC, city, state, and US popular vote. However, Governor George W. Bush won the Electoral College vote, so he won the presidency.

Conclusions
The 2000 presidential election was historical because it took so long to decide and because the winner of the election did not win the majority of US votes. We are left with some questions about the fairness of the election system. We suggest that anyone who is upset about the election write to his or her senators and representatives to ask them to change the voting system. Finally, we congratulate George W. Bush, the forty-third president of the United States.

Pat Fina teaches pre-GED math at the Community Learning Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She can be reached at 617-349-6363.