Sampling and Normal Distribution

This interactive simulation allows students to graph and analyze sample distributions taken from a normally distributed population.

The normal distribution, sometimes called the bell curve, is a common probability distribution in the natural world. Scientists typically assume that a series of measurements taken from a population will be normally distributed when the sample size is large enough. In this Click & Learn, students can easily graph and explore the distributions of different samples taken from an idealized normally distributed population. Students can set the sample size, population mean, and population standard deviation, and observe how the sample distribution shifts when changing any of these variables.

The accompanying worksheet guides students’ exploration.

The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.