Graphing

Objectives

• Students will learn to collect and display data.
• Students will construct charts and graphs to display and analyze real world data.
• Students will use models, facts and relationships to draw conclusions about mathematics and explain their reasoning.

Kit Contents

• Red Program Folder

• Books (in kit)
  • Murphy, Stuart J. Lemonade for Sale

• Equipment (in kit)
  • Beginning Graphing Activity Kit
    • 6 Graphing Mats
    • 60 Fruits
    • 40 Buttons
    • 80 Bugs
    • 3 Grab Bags

Lesson

• Program
  • Data collecting - finding information about a given item.
    • Students should choose some group of related objects (pile of buttons, bowl of fruit, jar of candy, etc.
    • Students should list descriptive facts about that group (color, quantity, size, shape, weight, etc.)
    • Students should record that collected information,
      probably just in a list of written words for starters.
  • Data analysis - looking at that data and deciding what it means.
    • Are there more or fewer of a certain trait? Bigger or smaller? How many of each category? What different colors and how many of each? Questions will depend somewhat on the type of object being used for data collection.
    • Look at the different types of objects. Would different ones have different kinds of data you could collect from them?
  • Recording Data - putting it in an organized system.
    • Set up a graph with the horizontal (x) axis and the vertical (y) axis.
    • Discuss what might be used for each (eg. color of buttons on the x axis and quantity on the y axis).
    • Start with just dots to mark the points. Then color them in as columns for a bar graph. Which is more effective for showing the results?
  • Conclusions - what you have learned from the presentation of the data.
    • Is it easier to learn about a pile of objects from looking at the pile, or reading the graph?
    • How might a graph help you to organize your collections?
  • Challenge
    • Offer the challenge to one or more players to collect the most data and create a graph relating to a given item. For example: ask the players to make a graph relating to the number and types of rectangles they can see in the room. In that case, someone may choose to graph the number of rectangles found in the furniture, room structure, and contents of the room.
      

 

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