Activities for student-generated data
What are the arms spans and heights of people in your class? Record measurements and use data to make frequency plots. Appropriate for Level 2: intermediate, data sets are larger, may have extra variables or groups, guidance more open-ended.
All terms: 6-8, Life Science, Classroom Activity, Describing Variability, Comparing Groups, 9+
How do you know which type of graph to use? If you need a frequency plot, do you use a dot plot, a histogram, a box plot?? When is it okay to connect the dots--do we need a scatterplot or a line graph? So many decisions! More...
This activity teaches how and why population pyramids are useful and how to construct them (a file containing special graph paper is also provided). Students practice analyzing age-gender distribution graphs. Leading questions offer ideas for discussion. More...
All terms: 6-8, Classroom Activity, 9+, Other
This activity will help students learn how to take accurate measurements using scales and to understand how variability can affect our ability to make comparisons between two groups of measurements.
All terms: 6-8, Classroom Activity, Describing Variability, Comparing Groups, 9+, Other
This activity will help students learn how to take accurate measurements using scales and to understand how variability can affect our ability to make comparisons between two groups of measurements.
All terms: 6-8, Classroom Activity, Describing Variability, Comparing Groups, 9+, Other
When tossed on a table, which type of tack do you think will land pointing up? Do the data support your prediction? Level 1: beginning, data sets are small, one variable, can be plotted by hand, guidance provided.
All terms: 6-8, Classroom Activity, Describing Variability, Physical Science
Show your students these graphs and ask them to answer the following questions: 1. What question is the graph addressing? 2. What story does the graph tell? And for Teachers: 3. What challenges would your students have interpreting this graph? Feel free to substitute other graphs for this exercise!
All terms: 6-8, Life Science, Classroom Activity, Correlations, 9+, Physical Science, Earth Science, Other
These handouts offer an overview of time series data. What is it? How do you graph it? More...
All terms: 6-8, Life Science, Classroom Activity, 9+, Time Series, Physical Science, Earth Science, Other
Start keeping track of the size of students’ home vegetable gardens each year to see if the number of gardens is increasing, or if gardens are getting bigger. Level 1: beginning, data sets are small, one variable, can be plotted by hand, guidance provided.
All terms: 6-8, Life Science, Classroom Activity, Describing Variability, Comparing Groups
How many different kinds of vegetables did students grow in their gardens this summer? Level 1: beginning, data sets are small, one variable, can be plotted by hand, guidance provided.
All terms: 6-8, Life Science, Classroom Activity, Describing Variability, Comparing Groups
