Summer SAVY 2017, Session 2/Day 2- Data Discoverers (Rising 2nd/3rd)

Posted by morganr1 on Tuesday, June 20, 2017 in SAVY.

Wow, what a busy day we had! We opened with a math reasoning activity that got us up and moving. We also started solving a math logic problem that we will carry through the week. It was our data collection, however, that really made the time go quickly. After generating a list of “one-minute” activities that could be safely conducted in our classroom and give us numerical data, we settled on linking paperclips.

In groups, students took turns linking, timing, and measuring (counting). We learned that we could describe our data by naming the rate: how many paperclips can be linked together in one minute. Each student performed the activity three times so that each would have a data set to work with. It didn’t take us long to discover the outliers, extreme values in the data sets. We learned that one way to describe the average is the typical or “median” number in the data set. The median is not affected by outliers. Tomorrow, we will explore mean and mode as well.

Before class ended, we were able to construct a visual model of a line plot to display our data. Tomorrow, we will reconstruct the line plots on paper and begin to analyze the data in depth. We will also collect new data (using stethoscopes 😊) that we will use to explore the idea of normative data. Through the process, students will learn the importance of organizing and communicating their findings as a researcher in the field would. A great discussion for tonight would be considering how baseball averages are a type of rate. I am looking forward to tomorrow!

Thank you,
Mrs. Wendy Buchanan