DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Grade: Seventh Grade

Materials: Spreadsheet Dittos

Objectives: Teach the students how to collect and analyze data.

Concepts: Data-collecting, analysis, surveying, graphs.

NCTM Standards: Communication, Patterns and Functions, Statistics

Procedure: This is a two day lesson. The first day will be spent explaining the survey and collecting data. The second day will be analyzing and graphing.

(Day 1) Divide the class into pairs of 2. Explain that they will be surveying at least five other sets of partners. They will ask each other about handedness, with which eye they wink ( or is it both?), thumb- dominance, and whether each can roll his or her tongue.

Note: Handedness is determined by which hand the student uses to write with.

To test thumb dominance, have the person being surveyed fold his hands. The thumb that is on top is the dominant one.

Also, determine whether you want tongue rolling to meaning folding the tongue back in half or curling the tongue up in half.

The students are to fill in the spreadsheet as they question each other.

(Day 2) The students repair with the partners and explain to them that they must construct bar graphs to represent the data. Allow them to decide how to group the data. If computers are available, you may wish to let them key in the data and let the computer do the graphing. After thirty minutes have passed, begin a class discussion about how the individual groups organized and graphed the data.

Assessment: Assign the students to try this with at least ten family members and neighbors, different from those in the classroom. Do they see any connections? Are there any similarities or differences?

References: Browning, Christine A. and Channell, Dwayne E. A "handy" database activity for the middle school classroom. Arithmetic Teacher, 40(4), 235-238.

Contributors: major - Corrina Hubbard

minor - Carol Marinas, Tisha Brown

Analysis Table

CIRCLE ONE : Class Homework

Name ____________________ Date ____________________

Participant's  Handedness     Thumb-dominance Winking          Tongue Rolling  
Name           (Left or                       (Left, Right or  (Yes or No)     
               Right)         (Left or        Both)                            
                              Right)                                           

Totals

Right-Handed _____ Left-wink ______

Left-Handed _____ Right-wink ______

Both ______

Right-thumbed _____

Left-thumbed _____ Tongue rollers ____