SURVEY: FAVOURITE SPECIALIST CLASS
SURVEY: FAVOURITE SPECIALIST CLASS
MATERIALS: paper, pencils
Have students predict what they think the most popular specialist class is among the students in Grade Two and discuss how they could find out this information. This should lead to collecting data from the students in Grade Two, and recording the information they get using tallies (l l l l l ) with headings like physical education, music, computer, library.
Have children examine results and compare to predictions. Were their predictions inaccurate? If so, ask them to describe why this may have been. Ask, Would you predict the same results to be found for Grade Six? Would the results be the same for a Grade Two class from a different school? Why or why not?
* Other things to survey: favorite TV shows, favorite toys, favorite colours, time to go to bed, length of names, birthdays, etc.
EXTENSION:
Students could construct a bar graph of the data collected.
OUTCOMES:
F1: conduct simple surveys and record data
F3: develop and modify predications with respect
to data collected or presented to them
F2: create and interpret pictographs and symbolic
bar graphs
MATERIALS: coins, paper, pencils
Ask students to predict how many times a coin would land heads up if they tossed it 10 times. Have them flip a coin 10 times, keeping tallies of heads and tails. When they are done, have students report their findings to the class and explain how this compared to their predictions. Ask them if they think they would get the same results if they were to repeat the experiment. Why or why not? Ask the students if flipping a coin is a fair way to decide who should go first in a game of tic-tac-toe. Why or why not?
EXTENSION:
Ask the students, would we get the same results if we
flipped a coin 100 times. How could we find an answer to this question
without each person flipping a coin 100 times and recording our answers?
OUTCOMES:
G1: demonstrate an understanding that some events are
more likely than others
G2: demonstrate an understanding that probability predictions
need not always come true
* Adapted from:
Barden, C. (1997). Logical Reasoning
& Probability: 35 Hands-On Activities for Grades 2-3.
Cypress, CA: Creative Teaching Press.
MATERIALS: newspapers, paper, pencils
Have students check a local newspaper for the weather forecast every day for a week, e.g. clear, cloudy, chance of rain. Students can display data in a pictograph. At the end of the week, have students compare weather forecasts (predictions) to the actual weather. Ask students why they think weather forecasts are sometimes wrong or unpredictable.
EXTENSIONS:
Students can be more specific in their data collection
and record the predicted and actual high and low temperatures for each
day. This data could be displayed in a bar graph.
Ask students to research how weather forecasters arrive
at their predictions.
OUTCOMES:
F2: create and interpret pictographs and symbolic
bar graphs
G2: demonstrate an understanding that probability predictions
need not always come true
MATERIALS: spinners (Blackline masters), coloured markers/pencils, paper clips
* Ask the students to demonstrate how they might design a two-coloured spinner if they were told that they would win $1.00 if the spinner lands on red and lose $1.00 if it lands on blue. Invite the students to show you three different spinners that they might design.
OUTCOMES:
G1: demonstrate an understanding that some events are
more likely than others
MATERIALS: a bar graph prepared by teacher
Show students a bar graph of ice cream sales for a store during the months of January through May. Ask them to predict what the graph would look like for the next three months? Explain. What might the graph look like for the remainder of the year (September, October, November and December)?
OUTCOMES:
F2: create and interpret pictographs and symbolic
bar graphs
F3: develop and modify predications with respect
to data collected or presented to them
* From: Atlantic Canada Mathematics Curriculum
Guide, Grade 2, p.2-89