Summer SAVY, Session 3 Day 3, The One to Beat (3rd – 4th)
Hello SAVY parents!
Today, students learned how to look at tables as another way to analyze the change between variables in a situation. We were able to compare and contrast line graphs and tables. Students were also given questions that they could ask themselves when trying to decide the most appropriate graph to use in a number of situations. When displaying change over time, a line graph is most appropriate, but when displaying the data for a single event, a table should be used. Tables are most useful in helping us to more easily recognize patterns in numbers and analyze how one variable is changing with respect to another.
The world record we studied today involved a dog named Olive Oyl that made the record books for jumping 63 times when jumping rope in one minute. The students were very eager to try and beat Olive Oyl’s record. While jumping rope for one solid minute didn’t sound very difficult, the students quickly learned it was a hard task to complete. The most exciting part was when a student broke Olive Oyl’s record by jumping 108 times in one minute.
In analyzing the data, we discovered that slow and steady wins the race. While those who started their jumps at full speed quickly ran out of energy, those who jumped at a steady pace were able to jump almost non-stop the entire minute. We also were able to identify the rate of change. The slow steady jumpers were the ones who had a rate of change that was more predictable. They averaged about 12-15 jumps every 10 seconds.
Thank you so much for another successful day at summer SAVY, and I look forward to another day of fun and learning.
Questions to consider:
- What does the word quantitative mean?
- If it is important for the audience to see the individual data, would you use a table or line graph?
- Which graph would you use to communicate an overall trend?
- Rate of change can be calculated by using what mathematical equation?
- How can creating a table be a useful problem-solving strategy?
With children first!
–D. Fuller