Cereal Histograms
Math, Science, Social Studies
Objectives:
-
Students will create a histogram based on collected data from the "Probable
Pen in the Cereal Box" experiment.
-
Students will visually analyze the histogram to make generalizations.
Focus/Set Induction:
Show the students the list of the number of boxes each student "bought"
from the previous lesson. Do they think there is an easier way to represent
this data? (Bar graph)
Rationale:
Being able to represent data in graph form is much easier to read
and analyze than lists of numbers.
Materials:
Overhead with results from "Probable
Pen in the Cereal Box" experiment.
Butcher paper
Index cards
Markers
Opt: Computer with spreadsheet program
and printer
Activities:
Instructional Input:
-
As students to describe a bar graph and
its purpose. How do you read a bar graph?
-
Explain that we can represent our data
as a special bar graph called a histogram. Our histogram will show the
number of people that "bought" a certain number of boxes during the previous
experiment.
Guided Practice:
-
Ask students to recall the number of boxes
they "bought" during the previous lesson. (This will be on the overhead.)
-
Give each student an index card.
-
Starting with the first number (in this
case 6 since it is the minimum number of boxes that anyone could buy),
ask students that "bought" that number of boxes to place their card above
that number. Continue until all students have placed their cards on the
graph.
-
Have students answer the following questions
to analyze the data:
-
Which column has the greatest number of
people?
-
What are the greatest and least number
of boxes that people "bought"?
-
Do they notice anything about the distribution
of the number of boxes?
(Most of the cards should be clustered
in 2-3 consecutive columns, usually between 10 and 14 boxes)
Independent Practice:
-
Show students another list of numbers
of a class that performed the "Probable
Pen in the Cereal Box" experiment
(either real or teacher-created).
-
Have students create and analyze their
own histograms of that data.
-
If possible, allow students to use a computer
spreadsheet program to create histograms.
Challenge:
Have several students that are competent
with division find a class average of the number of cereal boxes bought.
Is the distribution of the number of boxes related to this average?
For those that need help:
If students have trouble grasping
making and analyzing the histogram, allow them to use physical objects
(buttons, index cards) to create the histogram and allow them to describe
it orally.
Evaluation:
Students will be graded on the correctness
of their graph as well as on class participation.
Closure:
Ask students to share why they think
the histogram is easier to read and analyze than the list of data. Can
they think of other places that they see graphs used?
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1998 - Amanda Thompson amandakaye@yahoo.com
