Data Management: DM/P

In math, we will now be moving into data management. We will still be using our skills of decimal operations and measurement within this unit. Our large task for this unit will be via the website Census for Schools. This site allows us to collect a large amount of raw data from our school and then make predictions, look for patterns, and compare data between our school and Canadian data. We will even compare our results to other countries around the world. This unit will run for the next four weeks or so.
UNIT: Data Management
BIG IDEAS (taken from “Big Ideas by Dr. Small”)
  • To collect data, you must create appropriate questions and think about how best to gather the data.
  • Graphs are powerful data displays since visual displays quickly reveal information about data.
  • Bar graphs and pictographs are particularly useful for comparing the frequency of data in different categories. Line graphs are particularly useful for showing relationships between two quantities and trends.
  • It is important for students not only to read information from graphs but to make inferences and draw conclusions.
  • How the data is graphed (e.g. the use of different scales or intervals) can affect what conclusions are drawn from the data.
STUDENT LEARNING GOALS:
  • I can collect unbiased primary and secondary, qualitative and quantitative, discrete and continuous data.
  • I can draw and read pictographs, bar graphs, and line graphs
  • I can choose the most appropriate graph for a set of data
  • I can make conclusions and predictions from data in tables and graphs
CURRICULUM EXPECTATIONS (GRADE 5):
  • distinguish between discrete data (i.e., data organized using numbers that have gaps between them, such as whole numbers, and often used to represent a count, such as the number of times a word is used) and continuous data (i.e., data organized using all numbers on a number line that fall within the range of the data, and used to represent measurements such as heights or ages of trees);
  • collect data by conducting a survey or an experiment (e.g., gather and record air temperature over a two-week period) to do with themselves, their environment, issues in their school or community, or content from another subject, and record observations or measurements;
  • collect and organize discrete or continuous primary data and secondary data and display the data in charts, tables, and graphs (including broken-line graphs) that have appropriate titles, labels (e.g., appropriate units marked on the axes), and scales that suit the range and distribution of the data (e.g., to represent precipitation amounts ranging from 0 mm to 50 mm over the school year, use a scale of 5 mm for each unit on the vertical axis and show months on the horizontal axis), using a variety of tools (e.g., graph paper, simple spreadsheets, dynamic statistical software);
  • demonstrate an understanding that sets of data can be samples of larger populations (e.g., to determine the most common shoe size in your class, you would include every member of the class in the data; to determine the most common shoe size in Ontario for your age group, you might collect a large sample from classes across the province);
  • describe, through investigation, how a set of data is collected (e.g., by survey, measurement, observation) and explain whether the collection method is appropriate
  • read, interpret, and draw conclusions from primary data (e.g., survey results, measurements, observations) and from secondary data (e.g., precipitation or temperature data in the newspaper, data from the Internet about heights of buildings and other structures), presented in charts, tables, and graphs including broken-line graphs)

CURRICULUM EXPECTATIONS (GRADE 4):

  • collect data by conducting a survey (e.g., “Choose your favourite meal from the following list: breakfast, lunch, dinner, other.”) or an experiment to do with themselves, their environment, issues in their school or the community, or content from another subject, and record observations or measurements
  • collect and organize discrete primary data and display the data in charts, tables, and graphs (including stem-and-leaf plots and double bar graphs) that have appropriate titles, labels (e.g., appropriate units marked on the axes), and scales (e.g., with appropriate increments) that suit the range and distribution of the data, using a variety of tools (e.g., graph paper, simple spreadsheets, dynamic statistical software)
  • read, interpret, and draw conclusions from primary data (e.g., survey results, measurements, observations) and from secondary data (e.g., temperature data in the newspaper, data from the Internet about endangered species), presented in charts, tables, and graphs (including stem-and-leaf plots and double bar graphs)
  • demonstrate, through investigation, an understanding of median (e.g.,“The median is the value in the middle of the data. If there are two middle values, you have to calculate the middle of those two values.”), and determine the median of a set of data (e.g.,“I used a stem-and-leaf plot to help me find the median.”)
  • describe the shape of a set of data across its range of values, using charts, tables, and graphs (e.g. “The data values are spread out evenly.”; “The set of data bunches up around the median.”)
  • compare similarities and differences between two related sets of data, using a variety of strategies (e.g., by representing the data using tally charts, stem-and-leaf plots, or double bar graphs; by determining the mode or the median; by describing the shape of a data set across its range of values)
  • predict the frequency of an outcome in a simple probability experiment, explaining their reasoning; conduct the experiment; and compare the result with the prediction (Sample problem: If you toss a pair of number cubes 20 times and calculate the sum for each toss, how many times would
  • determine, through investigation, how the number of repetitions of a probability experiment can affect the conclusions drawn
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