Electronic Excess?

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Purpose

This is a level 3 statistics activity from the Figure It Out series.
A PDF of the student activity is included.

Achievement Objectives
S3-1: Conduct investigations using the statistical enquiry cycle: gathering, sorting, and displaying multivariate category and wholenumber data and simple time-series data to answer questions; identifying patterns and trends in context, within and between data sets;communicating findings, using data displays.
S3-2: Evaluate the effectiveness of different displays in representing the findings of a statistical investigation or probability activity undertaken by others.
Student Activity

Click on the image to enlarge it. Click again to close. Download PDF (1143 KB)

Specific Learning Outcomes

interpret data card information

create a graph

Description of Mathematics

This diagram shows the areas of Statistics involved in this activity.

stats diagram.

The bottom half of the diagram represents the 5 stages of the PPDAC (Problem, Plan, Data, Analysis, Conclusion) statistics investigation cycle.

Statistical Ideas

Electronic Excess? involves the following statistical ideas: using data cards to collect multivariate data, sorting and re-sorting data, and making sense of data by building data graphics (data displays) and interpreting them.

Required Resource Materials
A copy of the data cards (see copymaster)

A computer spreadsheet/graphing program (optional)

FIO, Levels 3+ -4, Statistics in the Media, Electronic Excess? page 21

Classmates

Activity

Data cards contain multivariate data relating to a single person. The cards are easy to manipulate and collate in different ways. When the students are using data cards, encourage them to group and regroup the data according to different variables. Cards can be stacked above or beside each other to make bar or strip graphs or card-built versions of the dot plots in the Answers. Students should be able to ask and answer comparison questions using the data cards.
The students can sort the cards into groups (for example, by gender) or by variable (for example, computer). A major strength of the data cards is that all graphs shown in the Answers as dot plots can be made using the cards. (You could help by providing common axes to be used throughout.) The card-built graphics can be photographed (or traced around) before they get recycled for the next graphic.
Before the students begin this activity, ask them to group their set of cards and then explain to a classmate how they decided to group them. Ask them to regroup them for a different variable and then to repeat with yet another variable. Often, students make obvious groups to begin with (such as gender) and become more sophisticated with their groupings as they are forced to make new ones. For example, the students could lay out their cards as a dot plot for computer, then make it grow into a scatter plot by adding a vertical axis for TV and moving the cards up. After the students make these different groupings, questions will arise naturally. It is a good idea to
record these questions on a chart to stimulate further questions that students may want to answer later.
For question 2, students can use the data cards to make graphs such as bar graphs, dot plots, or scatter plots. These can be more effective if appropriate colour is added to the data cards. For example, the question: “Do class members tend to spend more time playing on the computer than watching TV?” may be more effective if each favourite activity is shaded a particular colour on the cards (and is therefore more visible on the graph made from the cards). This effectively gets students to create a new (category) variable, which can then be explored. “How is choice of e-entertainment influenced by gender?” may also be more effective if boys and girls are shaded in different colours. Have the students evaluate each others’ graphs in terms of their effectiveness in answering the investigative questions.
 

Extension

Create another set of data cards (see the blank cards on page 56) for your own class and have them keep a record of their time spent at each activity over 24 hours. Copy these onto paper of a different colour to distinguish them from Ani’s class. With the additional variable of class, the data set has now doubled in size. (Note that Ani’s data comes from a real year 7 class, so comparisons will be valid.) It may also be interesting to collect a class set of data cards from a much younger or older year level. Have your students ask and answer their own investigative questions using their set of data cards.

Answers to Activities

1. a.–c. Answers will vary. For example, you could group the cards according to
gender, favourite pastime, or time spent on that pastime and make statements about gender or about whether time spent matches choice of favourite. For example:
More boys than girls in this class like using computers as entertainment. More
girls than boys in this class like using TV as entertainment. Both boys and girls in
this class spend more time watching TV than they do on computer entertainment,
but boys spend more time watching TV than girls do.
2. a.–b. Displays (using the data cards or graphs such as the dot plots below) and
comments will vary.

graph.
Most students don’t listen to the radio or an MP3 player. Only 6 of the 24
students did in fact listen to the radio or an MP3 player for 30 minutes or more. No one selected this option as their favourite. This data suggests that typically the students don’t listen to the radio or an MP3 player. Those that do listen do so for between 30 minutes and 6 hours per 24 hours. (Up to 5 minutes are counted as zero
in these dot plots.)

graphs.

Class members tend to spend more time watching TV than playing on the computer. The graphs show that the times for computer use go from 0 to 4.5 hours, whereas the TV watching times go from 0 to 7 hours. The middle group of times for
watching TV are between 1 and 3 hours, whereas the middle group of times for playing on the computer are between 20 minutes and 1 hour.

graphs.
The boys tend to play on the computer and watch TV for longer than girls. The computer-playing times for the boys is spread between 30 minutes and 4 hours, whereas for most of the girls, it is between 0 and 30 minutes. The middle group
of boys’ TV-watching time is between 2 and 3 hours, whereas that of the girls is spread between 0 minutes and 3 hours. (Given the low use of radio or MP3 players by the students, analysis of these in terms of gender is not particularly relevant.)


Key Competencies

Electronic Excess? can be used to develop these key competencies:
• thinking: investigating, exploring and using patterns and relationships in data, designing investigations
• using language, symbols, and texts: communicating fi ndings
• relating to others: working in groups, comparing and contrasting ideas
• participating and contributing: sharing equipment and/or resources.

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Level Three