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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Dealing with data in the elementary school

http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L297

A lesson plan for grades 3–8 Mathematics

Provider: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics


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This project-based unit on statistics furnishes a vehicle for problem solving through real-world data collection and analysis. Students use the mean, mode and median to analyze their data and use graphs to represent their findings. Illuminations provides helpful resources and detailed instructions for completing the lesson.

Students will:

  • Identify a research question.
  • Predict outcomes.
  • Conduct research to test their hypothesis.
  • Analyze and present data.
  • Propose and justify conclusions and predictions that are based on data and design studies to further investigate the conclusions or predictions.

NCTM Standards and Expectations:

  • Collect data using observations, surveys, and experiments.
  • Design investigations to address a question and consider how data-collection methods affect the nature of the data set.
  • Use conjectures to formulate new questions and plan new studies to answer them.
  • Formulate questions, design studies, and collect data about a characteristic shared by two populations or different characteristics within one population.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

Mathematics (2004)

Grade 3

  • Goal 4: Data Analysis and Probability - The learner will understand and use data and simple probability concepts.
    • Objective 4.01: Collect, organize, analyze, and display data (including circle graphs and tables) to solve problems.
    • Objective 4.02: Determine the number of permutations and combinations of up to three items.
    • Objective 4.03: Solve probability problems using permutations and combinations.

Grade 4

  • Goal 4: Data Analysis and Probability - The learner will understand and use graphs, probability, and data analysis.
    • Objective 4.01: Collect, organize, analyze, and display data (including line graphs and bar graphs) to solve problems.
    • Objective 4.02: Describe the distribution of data using median, range and mode.
    • Objective 4.03: Solve problems by comparing two sets of related data.
    • Objective 4.04: Design experiments and list all possible outcomes and probabilities for an event.

Grade 5

  • Goal 4: Data Analysis and Probability - The learner will understand and use graphs and data analysis.
    • Objective 4.01: Collect, organize, analyze, and display data (including stem-and-leaf plots) to solve problems.
    • Objective 4.02: Compare and contrast different representations of the same data; discuss the effectiveness of each representation.
    • Objective 4.03: Solve problems with data from a single set or multiple sets of data using median, range, and mode.

Grade 6

  • Goal 4: Data Analysis and Probability - The learner will understand and determine probabilities.
    • Objective 4.01: Develop fluency with counting strategies to determine the sample space for an event. Include lists, tree diagrams, frequency distribution tables, permutations, combinations, and the Fundamental Counting Principle.
    • Objective 4.03: Conduct experiments involving simple and compound events.
    • Objective 4.04: Determine and compare experimental and theoretical probabilities for simple and compound events.
    • Objective 4.05: Determine and compare experimental and theoretical probabilities for independent and dependent events.
    • Objective 4.06: Design and conduct experiments or surveys to solve problems; report and analyze results

Grade 7

  • Goal 4: Data Analysis and Probability - The learner will understand and use graphs and data analysis.
    • Objective 4.01: Collect, organize, analyze, and display data (including box plots and histograms) to solve problems.
    • Objective 4.05: Solve problems involving two or more sets of data using appropriate statistical measures.

Grade 8

  • Goal 4: Data Analysis and Probability - The learner will understand and use graphs and data analysis.
    • Objective 4.01: Collect, organize, analyze, and display data (including scatterplots) to solve problems.