MATERIALS: catalogue, paper, pencils
Your family needs a new refrigerator for the kitchen. You want to have a better idea of how much a new refrigerator might cost. Have students go through a catalogue you have provided and find:
EXTENSION:
Students could work on this same question using catalogues
or flyers from various businesses.
Students could work together on calculating tax on the
refrigerators.
OUTCOMES:
F1: recognize and use a variety of methods for
the collection and organization of data
F2: describe data maxima, minima, range, and frequency
F8: explore real-world issues of interest to students
and for which data collection is necessary to determine an answer
MATERIALS: thermometer, paper, pencils
Have students collect the high temperatures over 2 weeks
and construct a stem-and-leaf diagram to display the data. Ask them to
generate two questions which could be answered using the graph. What does
the shape of this graph tell us about the temperature in the last two weeks?
What are the advantages to using a stem and leaf plot? (preserves the raw
data)
Note: you should this before temperatures
start to drop below zero (Negative numbers)
EXTENSION:
After data has been collected, have students find the
maximum temperature, the minimum temperature, the range and frequency of
the temperatures.
Have students construct a bar graph to display the same data. (They should have each unit representing more than one degree.) Ask students which representation they prefer, the bar graph or the stem-and-leaf. Explain answers.
OUTCOMES:
F5: construct bar graphs, pictographs, and stem-and-leaf
plots
F1: recognize and use a variety of methods for
the collection and organization of data
F3: read and interpret bar graphs, line graphs,
pictographs, and stem-and-leaf plots
MATERIALS: paper, pencils, price lists from various pet stores (optional)
The Grade Four class has decided that they want to purchase
a pet for the classroom. (This can be a hypothetical situation only.)
Ask, how can we decide what kind of pet we should get? Should we
survey the class for preferences? If so, should we survey everyone in the
class or select a few to survey at random? Students need to plan
how to collect, organize, and display the information. What kind of questions
do we need to think about? Should we give those students surveyed
a choice to pick from? (hamster, fish or rabbit) How will we
group the responses? How would this information be best displayed?
Students can choose to construct a pictograph or bar graph.)
Other factors students should consider: price of
animal and supplies (inital and monthly), amount of maintenance required,
Who will look after it?, what will happen to him/her in June?, etc.
EXTENSION:
Once the students have come to an agreement on the type
of animal to purchase, they can look into the various prices of different
animals; what is the average (mean) price for a hamster?
OUTCOMES:
F1: recognize and use a variety of methods for the
collection and organization of data
F5: construct bar graphs, pictographs, and stem-and-leaf
plots
F8: explore real-world issues of interest to students
and for which data collection is necessary to determine an answer
MATERIALS: dice, paper, pencils
Have students work in pairs. Give each student pair a die and some paper. Ask them to divide their papers into six sections and label the sections 1-6. Ask students if they think one number will appear more often than the others when rolling the die. If so, have each student write his or her name in the section with that number. (The chances of rolling any given number on a die is one in six.) Ask students to take turns rolling the die and making a tally mark under the matching number.
After 36 rolls, have students add up the tally marks under each number. As a group, discuss the following questions: Was picking the winning number a matter of skill or luck? Did both students have an equal chance? Why or why not? If they played the game again, would the results probably be the same or different?
EXTENSION: Have the students play the same game using the sum of two dice. Divide a piece of paper into 12 sections, label them 1 through 12. (note: the probability of rolling a 1 is zero) After tallying results, ask, what similar conclusions can you make about rolling these numbers? Discuss why seven is often called "lucky seven". Is luck involved?
OUTCOMES:
G3: predict whether one simple outcome is more
or less likely than another
Ask students, what is the probability of seeing a giraffe in our town? (approximately 0) In what circumstances might the probability of seeing a giraffe be closer to 1?
EXTENSIONS:
Have children come up with their own situations where
the probability is 0, and situations where the probability is closer to
1. Have them share them with their classmates in the form of questions,
"what is the probability of...?"
OUTCOMES:
G1: predict probabilities as close to 0, near ½,
or near 1
G2: cite examples of everyday events with very
high or very low probabilities