Estimating
We started this week’s class trying to figure out how many cookies in
the cookie jar! This activity helped us to gather data for all the estimated
values and were plotted onto a stem and leaf graph. I first started my guess
with 126 cookies, and the way I reached this number is by counting the number
of cookies on the bottom layer (18) and multiplying it by the number of layers
(7). The more I looked at the cookie jar as it was being passed around the room;
I felt the number was too high of an estimate. When I looked at the jar again I
saw 4 layers instead of 7, giving a total estimate of 72 cookies. Now I felt the guess
was too low, so I took an average of between 126 and 72 and came to a
conclusion of 99 cookies. This was a better estimate since it was very close to the actually number of cookies, 105 in the jar. It was really interesting doing this task to show students the
importance of estimating. We make estimates all the time, whether it is in
cooking or trying to get ready in time to catch the bus.
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| How many cookies in the cookie Jar? (Khalid, N © 2016) |
Graphing
We then took the data and plotted everyone’s estimates on a stem and
leaf graph. Something interesting I learned is that two sets of data can be
placed on the same graph side-by-side to compare and contrast the data. In one
class most people guessed around 72 cookies, while in another class there were around
84 cookies as the estimate. It was nice to compare the data that was taken
from other classes. We simply started out with guessing the number of cookies
in the jar, which lead us to make many more discoveries. We learned much lessons on gathering data, such as graphing, finding the mean,
median and mode and their significance. So many lessons can be taught using this simple activity, which
I found very interesting.
Talking about the mean, we were also shown how to demonstrate to students what
mean would look like. We learned it is the same as leveling and distributing the
bars evenly. It was easy to show this using manipulatives such as blocks. Demonstrating
to students that if something is distributed unfairly; how can we level the
bars to show a fair representation of that distribution.
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| Uneven Distribution (Khalid, N © 2016) |
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| Evenly Distributed (That's Mean!) (Khalid, N © 2016) |
Another method of comparing and contrasting data was on a really
interesting website called Tinkerplots. This software helps students visualize
and model the data to show differences and relationships between various
attributes. This software seems a little hard to work with due to all the
complex features that it has, but with a growth mindset it should be easy to
overcome it with a little practice. I feel that this is a cool tool to use in the
classroom and students will enjoy being able to visualize the data.
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