Taking a stride in graphing

"Taking it in Stride" provides hands-on activities for students to use real-life experiences and apply them to graphing.

A lesson plan for grades 3–4 Mathematics

By Sandy Brooks

Learn more

• NCDigIns Help students become proficient in mathematics with this formative assessment diagnostic tool.

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Related topics

• Learn more about bar graphs, data analysis, data collection, graphing, and mathematics.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• make realistic estimations.
• understand the steps in making a bar graph.
• determine the different parts of a bar graph.
• understand why it is important to be accurate whenever you make a bar graph.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

65 minutes

Materials/resources

• 1 coin
• Student volunteers
• Graphing paper
• Colored pencils
• 15 tape measures
• Overhead projector
• Transparencies and Pens

Pre-activities

Review science process skills used in this activity. Conduct a cooperative learning activity where students toss a coin five times each and record the number of heads and tails. Students record this information on the overhead projector sheet labeled “Heads and Tails.” Tally marks are made under each heading. Ask: How do the tally marks help you compare the data for the tosses?

Activities

1. Explain to the class that walking is an Olympic event. Olympic walkers can walk almost as fast as some people can run. At the 1996 Olympics, the 20,000 meter walk was won by Jefferson Perez of Ecuador in 1 hour 20 minutes.The length of your stride helps determine how fast you can walk. Do you know how long your stride is when you walk?
2. Show a transparency with data titled “Stride Lengths of Ten-Year Olds.” The data in this table shows the stride lengths of some ten-year olds.
3. You can use a bar graph to display and organize this data. Guide students as they perform each step of making a bar graph.
• Draw the side and the bottom of the graph. Label the left side of the graph “length of strides.” Point out that the left side of the graph starts at zero. The greatest number on the left side of the graph should be equal to or greater than the greatest value in the set of data to be graphed. The numbers will be used to show the length of the strides in inches. Discuss how you decide what numbers to use on the side of the graph? Discuss using a range of numbers that includes the numbers you want to graph.
• Label the bottom of the graph as “Student Names.” Write the students’ names along the bottom so there is room to draw the bars.
• Draw bars on the graph that show the length of each person’s stride. You will find that some lengths are between two numbers.
• Choose a title for your graph. Your title should describe the subject of the graph.
• Check your work. Be sure your title describes the data and the labels are accurate.
4. Ask questions to check students’ ability to interpret from the data.
5. Now have students pair up and measure each others lengths of strides and compile data on the board. Instruct students to create a similar graph using their own data.
6. Summarize with questions:
   • What are the different parts of a bar graph?
   • Why is it important to use accurate data whenever you make a bar graph?

Assessment

Frequent instructional monitoring, observation and class discussion involving students in interpreting the data. Students will be able to represent their data in a follow-up activity in the form of a bar graph.

Supplemental information

Follow-up activity:

1. Have each student list the different foods he/she ate for lunch that day.
2. Call on students to share their lists, one food at a time.
3. As each food is named, have other students who ate the same food raise their hands.
4. A student volunteer records that food on the chalkboard and writes the number of raised hands.
5. After a record is made of all students and all foods, have the class work cooperatively to represent the data in a bar graph, and encourage students to analyze the data in different ways.

Comments

This lesson uses math as well as science process skills in the creation and utilization of graphs. In addition, students are physically involved in compiling data relevant to them.