"You have to make a lot of decisions while attending school. For instance, you can choose between chocolate milk and regular milk at lunch. What other decisions do you have to make at school?"
Allow students to share their thoughts and introduce them to the concept of a survey. Describe what a survey is. Make sure students understand that surveys can be taken on any topic by anyone. "Under what conditions would you fill out a survey? How do people complete surveys? How are people going to use the data they collect?"
Teach your students that surveys are filled out by people who ask questions. After that, they compile the data and present it in an easy-to-read format.
Make a list of all the information that students would like to know about their classmates, including their favorite animal, favorite hobby, favorite milkshake flavor, number of siblings, and so forth.
Select a recommendation from the list and create a survey question around it. Tell the students that they will gather information based on this question and use various graph types to present it.
"Let's take a poll to find out what everyone's favorite milkshake flavor is. What is your favorite milkshake flavor? I'm going to hand out sticky notes to each person. Pour yourself a milkshake in your preferred flavor. For vanilla, use white; for chocolate and strawberry, use brown and pink, respectively. Make a drawing of a glass with a large X on it if you don't like or drink milkshakes. Once you have finished drawing, select a location for your sticky note on the chart paper." Upon completion, the front of the chart paper ought to display an arbitrary assortment of images.
Ask students to share their observations once they have all contributed their pictures to the collection. Find out which flavor the majority of the class seems to like, how many students think chocolate milkshakes are the best, and how many students don't think milkshakes are good. Show the class that it is challenging to answer the questions because the notes are arranged erratically on the chart paper.
So that it is simpler to make observations and interpretations, ask students to propose possible arrangements for the images.
"The responses could be categorized according to flavor; for example, all of the responses related to chocolate would be in one group, all of the responses related to vanilla would be in another group, and all of the responses related to strawberries would be in a third group. We would also create a group specifically for those who dislike milkshakes."
"Let's arrange the information based on flavor."
Remove the first page of the chart paper, leaving the notes on it, and either put it in the center of the group or put it on display on one side. On a fresh chart paper sheet, draw four columns. Put labels in the following columns: None, Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry.
"I'm going to ask each of you to locate your drawing and put it in the relevant column, one by one. Perhaps that will make it easier for us to see the data."
Give the students time to arrange their drawings on the page. Ask students to examine the current display of the data and draw comparisons with its prior iteration.
"Does our data appear clearly on the new chart?" (Yes)
"What does our chart teach us?" Encourage students to talk about the decisions they made. Compare the flavors that are most and least popular.
Discuss the components of the graphs (title, axis labels). Teach students that these components are essential to any graph for viewers to comprehend the information displayed on it.
"We will investigate various approaches to organizing this data. We'll use tally marks first." Remind students that each tally mark is a vote for a particular flavor. Go over the setup for the five tally marks. Extend the chart paper pad and show everyone the review page. Draw horizontal rows for each flavor of milkshake on a fresh sheet of chart paper, labeling each row as appropriate.
Ask a student to approach the photo chart and determine how many images are in the vanilla column.
"How many individuals think vanilla milkshakes are the best?" (six)
"Make six tally marks in the Vanilla row on the tally chart."
Make sure to include a category for None and carry on with the remaining flavors. Ask students to share what they noticed about the information in the tally chart. As they compare the data in the first chart with the data in the tally chart, encourage them to do so. Help students understand that the information is displayed in different ways on both charts.
Create a bar graph. Find out if the students can come up with a catchy title for the graph. Model how to label the bottom of the graph with the milkshake flavors and number the left side of the graph from 0 to 10. Discuss the data in the tally chart. As an example, finish the first column to show how to utilize the data from the tally chart to complete the bar graph. Remind them to color one square in the flavor column for each tally mark. Assist students in finishing the remaining portion of the graph. Ask students what they noticed after they've finished the bar graph. Ask them to connect the bar graph to the first chart, the tally chart, and both. Despite being displayed differently, emphasize that the information is still the same. Make sure to store the three screens. These should remain as models for the work that students complete on their own or in pairs.
Extension:
Workstation: Choose a question to use for the workstation from the list that the class brainstormed earlier in the lesson. Provide copies of the survey form (M-1-6-1_Survey Form) to every student. Have them write a question on it and complete the options for answers. To finish the survey, students will select an answer choice and fill in a row next to it. After completing the survey, the student surveyor needs to decide how the data will be shown. He or she may choose to use a bar graph (M-1-6-1_Blank Horizontal Bar Graph), a tally chart (M-1-6-1_Blank Tally Chart), or another type of chart.
Group Small: "We're going to present the information we gathered earlier in a novel way. How can connecting cubes help us with this?" Once the class has generated ideas, propose to them that one cube should represent each picture or tally mark.
"Let's depict strawberry milkshakes with red cubes." Assign a student to count how many classmates selected strawberry milkshake as their preferred flavor, then connect the same number of red cubes to form a train. Repeat this step, using different colors to symbolize the None category and each of the remaining flavors.
After the cubes have all represented the data, have the students arrange the cube train into groups so that it resembles a bar graph. For a vertical graph, students could arrange the trains side by side on a table; for a horizontal bar graph, they could lay the trains down.
Organize a discussion in which you contrast the data from the cube trains and the classroom chart.
"Are the outcomes the same? Which is simpler to comprehend: the cubes or the chart? Why?"
Expansion: Show students how to construct number sentences that explain the connections among the data. Ask students to contrast, for instance, the proportion of people who prefer milkshakes with chocolate flavoring versus those who prefer milkshakes with strawberry flavor. You could write 8 > 3 if 3 voters chose strawberry and 8 voters chose chocolate. The response to the question of how many more people prefer chocolate to strawberries might be 8 – 3 = 5. To create a single mathematical expression that compares the data, have students collaborate.
