Module 5 Handling data
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Can I use data to answer a question?

Example review questions

  • Can you complete this table?
    A table showing information on how people travel. Bus has a tally of three, and a frequency of three. Bike has a tally of two and a frequency of two. Car does not contain any information for tally and has a frequency of 12. Walk has a tally of nine but doesn't have any information for frequency.
  • What conclusions can you draw about how people travel?
  • How many people travelled by car or bus? Is this more or less than the number of people who travelled by bike or walked?
  • How else could the data be represented?
  • Enter the numbers 1 to 20 onto the Venn diagram. Which numbers are multiples of five but are not even?
    A Venn diagram with a title of even for the left circle and a title of multiples of five for the right circle. The diagram has not been populated with an data.

Teaching guidance

This teaching guidance document suggests some of the key vocabulary, models, images and practical equipment that children should experience and be able to use. It also includes some teaching tips to provide a few starting points for ways of supporting children with this area of mathematics.

DOC file Can I use_data_to_answer_a_question? - teaching guidance | 220KB new window

Consolidation and practice

These resources are to support children in guided or independent work. Roll over the highlighted resource for a description.

PDF file How to use data handling ITP | 156KB new window

SWF file Data handling ITP | 57KB new window

DOC file Guess my shape/number guide | 152KB new window

XLS file Guess my shape/number | 63KB new window

DOC file Carroll diagram guide | 142KB new window

XLS file Carroll diagram | 116KB new window

SWF file Handy graph | 282KB new window

Data handling

itp_data_handling.png

This interactive teaching program (ITP) is an ICT-based tool to support the exploration of data. Data handling ITP allows the child or teacher to enter data into a table and then create a vertical bar chart, a horizontal bar chart or a pie chart. The user can select from existing datasets, which can then be amended to show the impact and change on the charts, or they can enter collected data.

Opportunities to use and apply

Possible contexts include:

  • science, e.g. Moving and growing. Suggest measurements to take to answer questions such as: ‘Who has the greatest hand span?’ Choose how to present the results.
  • geography, e.g. Looking at temperature graphs to investigate weather around the world, or use data to investigate how much rubbish we throw away in the school grounds.
  • PE, e.g. Find out what sport your class prefers. Explain what you would do to answer this question. How would you record and present the information?

Confirming learning

Ask probing questions such as:

  • How could you use data to find out whether it’s true that most children in Year 4 have blue eyes? How might the data be represented?
  • When might a tally chart be useful? Can you think of an example and explain why is it useful?
  • When might a bar chart be useful? Can you think of an example and explain why is it useful?
  • Show the children some data. Ask them to discuss some questions the data can be used to answer.