Got Data?

Subject Area: Math

Grade Level(s): 7

Duration of Activity: 2 to 3 hours

Description of Activity:

This activity will engage students in gathering and organizing data. The student (or teacher) will choose five brands of any given product. For example, pick a product such as toothpaste, gum, automobile, or soft drink. Based on that choice, the student will survey twenty people, asking their favorite choice of those five brands. Students will create a frequency table, a bar chart, and a percentage graph in their mock advertisement in Microsoft PowerPoint.

Objectives:

• The student will analyze collected data.
• The student will create a frequency table, bar chart and a percentage graph from the data that they gather.
• The student will create a storyboard with the use of Handout 1: PowerPoint Presentation Storyboard.
• The student will use Microsoft PowerPoint to create a five-slide advertisement.
• The student will use a floppy disk to save his/her presentation.

Materials/Equipment:

• Computers with Microsoft PowerPoint or other presentation software
• Data collected by the student from 20 people on five different brands of a product chosen by the student. For example, a student may choose to survey 20 people about their favorite choice of gum. The student would offer the person being surveyed a choice of Dentyne Ice, Wrigley’s Spearmint, Extra, Bubbilicious or Juicy Fruit. The person being surveyed will choose one favorite, and the surveyor will record this choice.
• Handout 1: PowerPoint Presentation Storyboard
• Handout 2: Student’s Guide for the PowerPoint Presentation
• Handout 3: Teacher Instructions
• Handout 4: Student PowerPoint Presentation Scoring Rubric

Prerequisites (skills or background needed):

• It is helpful for students to be familiar with turning computers on/off, selecting/closing programs, and use of mouse and/or touchpad.
• The teacher will need a basic knowledge of Microsoft PowerPoint.

• Students should be able to save files on a floppy disk.
• Students should have a basic understanding of line and bar graphs as well as frequency tables.

Procedure

Teacher Component: The teacher will

1. discuss the assignment for students to survey 20 people to find their choice of a favorite choice of product brand (e.g., toothpaste, gum, automobile).
2. give students examples and explanations of bar graphs, line graphs, and frequency tables.
3. prepare copies of Handout 1: PowerPoint Presentation Storyboard and Handout 2: Student’s Guide for the PowerPoint Presentation for student use.
4. inform students of grading procedure based on Handout 4: Student PowerPoint Presentation Scoring Rubric or the teacher’s choice of an alternate grading method.
5. reserve computers for the activity date.
6. provide floppy disks and labels.
7. guide students in creating storyboards for their presentations using Handout 1: PowerPoint Presentation Storyboard.
8. explain the basics of Microsoft PowerPoint relative to the presentation requirements.

Student Activities: The student will

1. interview 20 people to find their favorite choice of a product brand.
2. organize the data in a frequency table using Handout 1: PowerPoint Presentation Storyboard.
3. complete Handout 1: PowerPoint Presentation Storyboard.
4. create a five-slide presentation in which a frequency table, a bar graph, and a line graph is included on individual slides in Microsoft PowerPoint.
5. use complete sentences and proper punctuation in his or her Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.
6. incorporate at least one graphic within the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.
7. use a floppy disk to save the presentation.

Accommodations:

• The teacher should check any 504 accommodations for students involved in this lesson.
• The teacher may discuss in advance the lesson plan with special needs students or other teachers in order to anticipate any special accommodations that need to be made in advance.
• The teacher in a one-computer classroom may demonstrate various graphs and charts using any available spreadsheet package. A computer may be used with a television and scan converter, large-screen monitor, or projection device to help each student easily view the materials.
• Teachers should plan in advance for pairing or grouping students. These students should be paired to benefit the skills of all students.

Extension Activities:

• Teachers may choose to include the mean, median, and mode of each set of data.
• Teachers may include histograms and circle graphs in the activity.
• Students may create their own bar, circle, or line graphs on paper and then create them in spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel and compare the results for accuracy. Students with more advanced computer skills and access to software with OLE (object linking and embedding) capabilities can practice creating charts/graphs, inserting them into word-processing or presentation documents, changing the data in the original chart/graph and checking for changes in the linked file. The how-to document Utilizing OLE in Office XP/2000 can be used as a tutorial.
• The teacher may use the World Wide Web and computers to visit http://edhelper.com to create worksheets.

Integration:

• Solicit the English teacher to grade the grammar so that students will have more incentive to use proper grammar in the math classroom.
• If your school has a Career Discovery class, you might invite the teacher to discuss careers in advertising, statistics, or graphic design, at the same time you are doing this lesson.

Assessments:

1. Teacher observation of student staying on-task and using time wisely or other appropriate learning behaviors
2. Handout 4: Student PowerPoint Presentation Scoring Rubric

URLs:

• Free Lesson Plans, WebQuests, Worksheets and Teacher Tools!
  http://edhelper.com
• Spreadsheets and Bar Graphs
  http://score.kings.k12.ca.us/lessons/spread.bar.html
• How to Construct a Line Graph
  http://staff.tuhsd.k12.az.us/gfoster/standard/bgraph.htm
• Math: Maps & Graphs & Line Graphs of Weather Forecasts
  http://www.teachnet.com/lesson/math/mapgraphs/weatherforecasts.html
• M & M GRAPHS Math Lesson Plan, Thematic Unit, Activity, Worksheet, or Mathematics Teaching Idea
  http://www.lessonplanspage.com/MathCIMandMGraphsSpreadsheets36.htm
• Math 7 - Frisbie Middle School - Pie Chart
  http://www.mathforum.org/workshops/usi/dataproject/howto/usi.pie.graph.html

Curriculum Frameworks

Mississippi:

Seventh Grade

4. Collect, organize, and summarize data and use simple probability.
1. organize data in a frequency table.
2. interpret and construct histograms, line, and bar graphs.
6. predict and recognize data from statistical graphs.

National Educational Technology Standards (NETS):

4. Use content-specific tools, software, and simulations (e.g., environmental probes, graphing calculators, exploratory environments, Web tools) to support learning and research. (3, 5)
6. Design, develop, publish, and present products (e.g., Web pages, videotapes) using technology resources that demonstrate and communicate curriculum concepts to audiences inside and outside the classroom. (4, 5, 6)
8. Select and use appropriate tools and technology resources to accomplish a variety of tasks and solve problems. (5, 6)

TerraNova:

15 Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability (Level 10-21/22)
Analyze, interpret, and evaluate data in various forms; and apply the concepts and processes of data analysis, statistics, and probability to real-world situations.

Represent and interpret data, model probability situations, describe trends, and evaluate or construct arguments based on data.

Link and Feedback to Author(s):

Shelia McDill, West Lauderdale Middle School, Collinsville, MS
sfmcdill@yahoo.com