DATA COLECTION AND PROBABILITY
This site contains a list of several valuable resources
for teaching data collection and probability in the elementary classroom.
Included are resource books, websites and journal articles that offer useful
and practical ideas that teachers may implement in their classrooms. These
resources were compiled by Shannon Hodder, a student of Education at Acadia
University.
· Text Books
· Resource Binders
· Activity Books
Van de Walle, John A. (1994). Elementary School Mathematics (2nd ed.) Toronto: Addison Wesley Longman. *
This is an excellent teaching resource for any elementary math teacher. Chapter 19, called “Exploring Beginning Concepts of Probability and Statistics” would be particularly useful to a teacher when examining data collection and probability. It offers comprehensive explanations of the concepts involved, including why they are important to know at the elementary level. This chapter can help teachers better understand the concepts themselves, as well as assist them with their instructional approaches to teaching such concepts.
* This edition is now out of print. The new
edition is called Elementary And Middle School Mathematics (4th ed.) by
the same author, John A. Van de Walle.
ISBN 0801332532
Cathcart,
W.G., Pothier, Y. and Vance, J. (2000). Learning Mathematics in
Elementary and Middle Schools (3rd ed.). Scarborough:
Prentice Hall Canada Inc.
Chapters 10, Collecting, Organizing, and Displaying
Data is very useful and focuses on the representation of data in graphs.
It explains the various levels of development in children and their corresponding
ability to graph information in different ways.
In Chapter 11, Interpreting Data: Statistics and Probability,
the authors emphasize that students must be involved in the collecting
of the data themselves through various means. Students must also
engage in activities where they can test the probability of certain events
occurring.
Both chapters offer helpful instructional hints and concrete
activities that you can introduce to your students. The figures that accompany
the text are particularly helpful.
ISBN 0-13-014094-5
Beesey, C. and Davie, L. (1994). Active Mathematics: Teacher’s Resource Book Level 1 (K-2). Toronto: Gage Educational Publishing Company.
This Canadian resource is a teacher’s supplement to the
books in the Gage Active Mathematics, level 1 series. Although it
is most beneficial to have this series, the guide can stand virtually alone.
The section on Data Collection and Representation is especially useful.
It provides short exercises for teachers to do with students “for five
minutes” and also full lesson plans that could be easily implemented into
any primary to Grade 2 classroom. These lesson ideas could also be easily
adapted to fit a higher grade level. The book also includes possible
literature connections at the end of each section.
ISBN 0-7715-3230-X
Kelly, B. and Wortzman, R. (1996). Quest 2000: Exploring Mathematics, Grade 5. Toronto: Addison Wesley Longman.
In Unit 6, called Collecting and Analyzing Data,
Grade 5 students are expected to collect data, represent it graphically,
and analyse it for patterns. Many of the activities provided involve answering
questions based on the examination of a set of data provided. The ideas
offered in the book are very useful and serve as a good point from which
creative teachers can start to build meaningful lessons. There is definite
potential to make the activities and exercises in the textbook more interesting
and engaging to the students. The practice sheets provided are helpful,
but should only be used to supplement a meaningful learning activity.
ISBN 0201552728
Interactions: Grade 5 (1994). Toronto: Ginn Publishing Canada Inc.
In Unit 9, Introducing Probability and Statistics,
Grade 5 students are expected to conduct their own probability experiments
as well as begin to analyse the data for patterns. The unit offers detailed
lesson plans, which also includes discussion questions and extension activities.
They also provide helpful hints for observation and assessment. The
unit also includes related literary connections and teaching resources,
such as videos and computer software. Also included are some helpful blackline
masters, including game cards, a letter to parents and an assessment checklist.
ISBN 0-7702-2451-2
Seymour, Dale. (1997). Probability Model Masters. Palo Alto, CA: Dale Seymour Publications.
This book contains over 100 pages of reproducible black
line masters that can also be used for overhead transparencies. The
models include playing cards (standard and non-standard), spinners, dice,
heads and tails cards and colour cards. This is an excellent resource
for any study of probability from P to 12 and can assist teachers in their
preparation of probability lessons and/or probability game activities.
ISBN 0-86651-537-2
Bamberger, Honi. (1996). Super Graphs, Venns & Glyphs: Hundreds of Great Data Collecting Activities. Toronto: Scholastic Canada, Ltd.
This book shows teachers how to incorporate data collection
into their classrooms everyday. It emphasizes the need for children
to have frequent opportunities to collect data and demonstrates the importance
for children to become adept using this “real-life tool”. This book
is full of great ideas to make collecting and interpreting data meaningful
and fun for children. Teachers will enjoy the book’s easy and straightforward
approach and illustrations.
ISBN 0590674773
The Math
Forum: Ask Dr. Math (1994-2000).
http://mathforum.com/dr.math/tocs/prob.stats.middle.html
This website is particularly useful for teachers and students
of mathematics because it gives them an opportunity to go on-line and ask
“Dr. Math” a question about mathematics. The above URL brings you
to dozens of questions and answers on Probability and Statistics from the
archives of Dr. Math. Middle school students and teachers posed these
questions. The answers provided by Dr. Math are very clear and can help
simplify some aspects of probability.
Statistics Canada, 2000 http://www.statcan.ca/
This website is an excellent resource and has a wealth
of data that can be accessed by teachers or older students, including information
on population, economy, land and resources and communities. This is a complex
site with great amounts of data that makes it difficult for elementary
children to navigate. Teachers should check out the Education Resources
section of the site.
Carol Hurst’s
Children’s Literature Site
http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/math/datagather.html
This site demonstrates how teachers can use children’s
literature in all areas of the elementary curriculum. Under the section
called Math and Children’s Literature, there is a list of over 40 picture
books that can be used in connection with teaching “Data Gathering and
Analyzing”.
Bloom, Stephen J. (1994, October). Data Buddies: Primary-Grade Mathematicians Explore Data. Teaching Children Mathematics, 80-86.
This article details an excellent, but complex lesson
plan in which grade one and two students are “buddied up” with someone
they do not know from a different school. They need to collect information
about themselves that they will send to their “buddy” at the other school.
The goal is that the buddies will meet and have to identify each other
based on the information they received about each other. The students
help generate the list of important information to gather about their “buddy”.
The lesson takes place over a course of two to three months and involves
several exchanges of information between the classes. The students are
involved in various methods of graphing. This is an interesting method
of teaching students about data collection, and may be one that will prove
meaningful to them.
Karp, Karen S. (1994, October). Telling Tales: Creating Graphs Using Multicultural Literature. Teaching Children Mathematics, 87-91.
This article discusses how teachers can draw connections
not only between math and literature, but also between math and literature
with more culturally diverse characters. The author demonstrates
how students can represent information taken directly from the story (or
derived from the story in some way) using different graphical representations.
Moore, Deborah. (1999, May). Some Like it Hot. Teaching Children Mathematics, 538-543.
In this article, the author details an excellent lesson
on temperature where students collect experimental data and then represent
data graphically. This lesson is most appropriate for Grade 5 or 6, but
can be adapted for lower levels as well. Working with temperature can be
most beneficial because it serves as a link between math and science, as
well as introduce negative numbers and conversion (Celsius to Fahrenheit).