Statistics: Climb, slide or swing?
View Sequence overviewThe ways that we represent data helps us see the story that the data is telling.
Each group
Sheet of A3 paper
Pencils and markers for drawing the poster
Lesson
Revise: We are answering the question: What would we have in a playground where everyone in our class can have fun? To answer this question, we conducted a class survey to find each person’s favourite playground activity.
Explain to students that now we have collected our data, we need to represent our data to help us answer the question.
Divide students into pairs and provide each pair with A3 paper and drawing materials. Ask students to represent the class survey data as a poster in a way that makes sense to them.
When students have completed their posters, display them in the classroom.
Informal invented recordings
In this task, students are asked to represent the data in a way that makes sense to them. Through creating their own recordings students articulate what they understand about the class’s playground data, in a way that is meaningful for them.
When students express their ideas in their own way, the data is more likely to make sense to them. Using invented recording, rather than more formal conventions for recording data, provides students with a meaningful context to develop the need to represent data in a way that helps them to analyse data and answer the questions that are being investigated.
At this stage, do not expect students to naturally use formal conventions of statistical representations. You may see students using rudimentary forms of graphs or other representations. These early representations hold meaning to students, and refining these over time means that the meaning that they hold for students is not lost.
In this task, students are asked to represent the data in a way that makes sense to them. Through creating their own recordings students articulate what they understand about the class’s playground data, in a way that is meaningful for them.
When students express their ideas in their own way, the data is more likely to make sense to them. Using invented recording, rather than more formal conventions for recording data, provides students with a meaningful context to develop the need to represent data in a way that helps them to analyse data and answer the questions that are being investigated.
At this stage, do not expect students to naturally use formal conventions of statistical representations. You may see students using rudimentary forms of graphs or other representations. These early representations hold meaning to students, and refining these over time means that the meaning that they hold for students is not lost.
Explain to students that they will be participating in a class gallery walk, to look at and make sense of others’ data posters. Ask students to consider the following questions as they look at others’ work:
- What activities do the students in our class like most?
- What do students like least?
- Is there a favourite activity that stands out?
Conduct the class gallery walk. Provide each student with sticky notes to leave any questions that they have or comments about what they notice. Allow students to spend time looking closely at the posters.
Provide students with time at the end of the gallery walk to reflect on the comments and questions left by others on their data display, and to make additions or changes to their display.
Discuss what 'student-invented' strategies represented the data in a way that made it clear to see what students liked to do most/least in the playground. Did all of the data posters tell the same story about what the class would like to have in a playground that is fun for everyone?
Ask students to use evidence from the posters to support their thinking.
Display the completed data posters so that students can continue to use them and reflect on them. These data displays will be used to inform the student mathematical activity in the next lesson.
Gallery walk
During the gallery walk, students have an opportunity to see how other students have expressed the same data in a variety of ways. 'Student-invented' recordings are an informal way for students to represent the data in a way that makes sense to them. However, their representations also need to communicate meaning to other students, so that they too can make sense of the data, in order to analyse it and draw their conclusions. When students have the opportunity to see how others have represented the data using an invented recording, they can reconsider their own representations in light of this and to check that they hold meaning and make sense.
During the gallery walk, students have an opportunity to see how other students have expressed the same data in a variety of ways. 'Student-invented' recordings are an informal way for students to represent the data in a way that makes sense to them. However, their representations also need to communicate meaning to other students, so that they too can make sense of the data, in order to analyse it and draw their conclusions. When students have the opportunity to see how others have represented the data using an invented recording, they can reconsider their own representations in light of this and to check that they hold meaning and make sense.