Week 10: Report and Reflection

This week our class focused on Data Management & Probability. Data Management & Probability is a large topic to cover because there are ways in which we collect and describe data, ways that we display and analyze our data, and also how do we measure the likelihood of the next event based on our data.

I thought that Jeff's activity was an appropriate way to get students engaged with the ways in which we collect and organize data through the mean, median and mode. After going through some modelling he asked use within our groups to find the mean, median, mode and range with our collection of shoe sizes. He also presented the question in the context of a real-life situation. We were to imagine we were a shoe company and by calculating the the mean, median and mode of our data we were able to see why a company would want to know this information, because it helps to better plan with manufacturing. Activities like this allow for students to connect reasons where we use mathematics in real-life and also why we use mathematics.

Asma's activity clearly identified the uses of bar graphs and how to represent data. What I find to be most effective in teaching how to represent data is the use of asking students questions that pertain to their interests. Asking them about favourite colours, or shoe sizes allows them to record what they are familiar with in order to simplify the concept. I also enjoyed the activity itself which allowed students to work with a partner to record the rolls of their dice. This presented a way of collecting random data and also made the activity feel like playing a game.

Asma's Activity
Chamberlain, 2015 (C)

People Graph
Small, Marian. Making Math Meaningful. p.520

Representational Graph
Small, Marian. Making Math Meaningful. p.521

Making Math Meaningful also identified various ways of representing and communicating data. I think having students create concrete graphs, people graphs or with representational objects, are an effective way for having students visualize the concept of graphing more thoroughly. People graphs suit the contexts where students are graphing personal data, such as choices or opinions. (p. 520) Representational graphs use objects or manipulatives. Asking students to create people graphs will help students communicate graphic visually and also orally because the whole group could create a discussion based on how they have graphed themselves. Representational graphs using objects would allow for visual comparisons and also connecting with real life objects. I feel that using concrete methods of graphing would be a necessary step to take prior to having students record actual graphs on chart paper because they would have a better sense of the purpose of graphing.







Resources:
Small, Marian. Making Math Meaningful to Canadian Students, K-8. 2nd Edition. Nelson: Toronto, 2013.