Wow! I can certainly say that this first module was filled with a lot of helpful information. In this blog posting, I will describe my experiences and thoughts about the different activities presented in the module.
Categorical Data Sort and Analysis Activity
• Thoughts prior to
sorting your data. What did you think would be interesting about the names on
the paper?
Before even looking at the
categorical data cards, I began thinking about why kinds of names my classmates
would choose. I had expected to see a variety of people that have impacted our
world in some way, past and present. I thought about the possibility that I
would not recognize some of the names given by a few peer or know little about
them. I felt like some people would choose individuals such as entertainers or
authors that might have inspired them in some way.
• Your sorted data
complete with headings.
Having looked studied the
data cards, I can say that I was correct about my previous assumptions. I did
have to look up some additional information as I did not know the names of some
the individuals listed. I did see the names of a number of authors, poets, and
entertainers, so that was not very surprising. I will say that it was a little
difficult to find three different categories in which to place these people.
Nevertheless, I came up with the following sortings:
1)
Entertainment
Literature
Historical Events
For this first set of groupings, I thought
about the things the people on the list are best known for or associated with—things
that are perhaps the most obvious. I separated their names into the following
categories:
Entertainment Literature Historical
Events
Jimmy Fallon Mya
Angelou Malala
Yousafzai
John Lennon Dr.
Seuss Thomas
Jefferson
Ellen DeGeneres Anne Sexton Amelia
Earhart
Patricia
Polacco Albert Einstein
E.E. Cummings Ellen Douglas Bellamy
Louis
Zamperini
•
Write three to five statements that describe your data. (What does this data
tell us about the people in our class?) Go beyond telling how many are in each
category.
1)
With six names, there are more names placed in
the “Historical Events” category than any other section.
2)
There are five names placed under the
“Literature” category. Interestingly, each of these individuals have written
pieces of children’s literature.
3)
There are three names placed under the
“Entertainment Section”. Two of these people are still living.
4)
Each of the individuals in the “Historical
Events” category have made an impact on our history. Five of the six
individuals received medals or awards for their achievements.
So what does this
this tell us about the people in this course? I think it’s clear to see that
many of us enjoy reading or studying some form of literature. Almost all of the
people under the “Literature” category are children’s authors or have published
poetry/books aimed for children. Their works are one that we future elementary
teachers can certainly relate to. Perhaps this says a lot about our love for
quality literature as well as children!
As for the people
that chose to converse with an entertainer, perhaps they are more outgoing or
well versed in pop culture. I look at the names of Jimmy Fallon and Ellen
DeGeneres and can’t help but about how they have put smiles on the faces of so
many people. The same can be said about John Lennon. As part of the Beatles, he
and his band mates brought great music, joy, and inspiration to the world.
There were many
of my classmates that shared the names of people that fit under the “Historical
Events” section. Each of these well-known individuals experienced life in a
different time period. Further research shows that, with the exception of one
person, they received some kind of award and acknowledged for their significant
contributions in history. I think these particular choice of names show that
most of us appreciate history and the people that played a part in making huge
changes/advancements.
Ultimately, is
seems like we have a good mix of interests in this class. Some of us have
gained inspiration from literature or simply enjoy being entertained by
musicians or talk show hosts. Others are history buffs and place interest in
the lives of people that have made some sort of difference in the world.
Below, I have included my second set of groupings:
2)
Activists
Comedians
Storytellers
Inventors
For this set, I dug a little deeper into
the lives of these famous people and learned some interesting things about them
and what they accomplished. I have grouped them in the following categories:
Activists
Comedians Storytellers Inventors
Louis Zamperini Ellen DeGeneres Dr.
Seuss Thomas
Jefferson
Amelia Earhart Jimmy Fallon Patricia
Polacco Albert Einstein
Malala Yousafzai Anne
Sexton
John Lennon Ellen Douglas Bellamy
E.E. Cummings
Mya Angelou
• Write three to five
statements that describe your data. (What does this data tell us about the
people in our class?) Go beyond telling how many are in each category.
1)
This time, the data was broken down into four
categories. Each of the four people in the “Activists” category spoke out for a
certain cause or issue. Interestingly, they also received some type of award
for their contributions.
2)
There are two people found in the “Comedians”
section. These individuals both have television shows that are popular today.
3)
The six people listed in the “Storytellers”
section have all published works that tell a story like poems, books, and
memoirs.
4)
The two individuals placed under the “Inventors”
category are well-known in their efforts of coming up with new ideas and
inventions.
I think it’s easy to look at these
statements and understand why my classmates would want to have a conversation
with the people listed in each category. The name under the “Activists” section
might tell us about what my classmates are passionate about. Each person listed
spoke up for a certain cause. For example, Malala Yousafzai, who is still
living, is a Pakistani activist and stands up for women’s education. She has
even won a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts. Amelia Earhart was more than just
an iconic aviator, she was a role model and advocate for women. Some might
wonder why I placed John Lennon under this category. Yes, he was a great
musician/songwriter but he was also very much involved in political protests
and promoted world peace. These are things that might be important to the
people who chose these individuals.
I chose to place two of the names in the “Comedians” category. Jimmy Fallon and Ellen DeGeneres are involved in entertainment (as listed in my first grouping) but I see them as more as comedians than anything else. They are definitely well-known individuals considering both have their own talk shows. They sure make me laugh! Again, this might say a lot about the interests of the classmates that chose these people.
I think it’s pretty easy to see the connection between people in the “Storytellers” category. I chose not to title this section Writers or Authors because I think they are so much more than that. I look at each name and think how they have told some of the most beloved stories in history—through books, poems, and spoken word. Mya Angelou is perhaps one of the best story tellers of this century and has inspired many people with her work. After doing some research on Ellen Douglas Bellamy, I learned that she wrote a memoir that told stories of her interesting experiences living during the Civil War. I think some of my classmates chose people under this category simply because they enjoy hearing/reading good stories.
I chose to place two of the names in the “Comedians” category. Jimmy Fallon and Ellen DeGeneres are involved in entertainment (as listed in my first grouping) but I see them as more as comedians than anything else. They are definitely well-known individuals considering both have their own talk shows. They sure make me laugh! Again, this might say a lot about the interests of the classmates that chose these people.
I think it’s pretty easy to see the connection between people in the “Storytellers” category. I chose not to title this section Writers or Authors because I think they are so much more than that. I look at each name and think how they have told some of the most beloved stories in history—through books, poems, and spoken word. Mya Angelou is perhaps one of the best story tellers of this century and has inspired many people with her work. After doing some research on Ellen Douglas Bellamy, I learned that she wrote a memoir that told stories of her interesting experiences living during the Civil War. I think some of my classmates chose people under this category simply because they enjoy hearing/reading good stories.
The two names I placed under the
“Inventors” had some kind of impact on our history. Thomas Jefferson was a
president and a founding father but he also came up with a number of inventions
like a plow, an improved swivel chair, and macaroni! Albert Einstein might not
have invented tools or objects but he invented mathematical/scientific theories
that have led to major breakthroughs—past and present. Perhaps my peers that
chose these individuals are inspired by their hard work and discoveries. I know
I am!
• What further
questions might you want to pursue based on these initial data? How might you
modify the survey to get at your own questions?
I will say
that this survey yielded a wide variety of responses. It could be that each
well-known person was chosen for a variety of reasons, making it difficult to
come up with at least three distinct categories (i.e.—putting John Lennon in
“Entertainment” or “Activist”). In order to narrow the results of the survey
down, I might ask participants to tell me why they would want to converse with
the person they name. We all have different perspectives, so it would be
interesting to learn how each person views the well-known individual they name.
Further discussion….
• Were there data that didn’t fit into any of the chosen categories? If
so, what did you do when this happened? (Did you reconfigure the categories or
leave the data out?)
I did
encounter some problems as I tried to sort the names into at least three
different categories. I ended up having to do a little research to learn more
about some of the names on the list. Once I found out some more information, it
made it a little easier to see what some of the people had in common. I found
myself starting out with certain categories but later changing them when some
of the names did not fit the criteria. I changed the names of my categories a
few times before settling on the ones I listed above. It was more difficult
than I had originally expected.
• After you have posted your data, look at your blog partner’s posting.
Ask him/her questions about his/her reasoning for certain group ideas or why
he/she chose to put a name in a particular place. If you disagree with the
sorting or categories, respectfully point this out and share your thinking with
him or her. (You are encouraged to look at other blogs as well).
*To be done at
a later time. Please see my comments on blog partner’s page*.
How Many
Pockets? Video:
• What are some
important features of what’s happening in this classroom? • What did you notice?
From
the very beginning of the video, I noticed a lot of DISCUSSION taking place
amongst the class. The teacher let her students take time to count their
pockets and discuss how many they each had. The discussions were important in
that they helped students reach answers regarding the data the teacher
collected. Another important feature is that the teacher PRESENTED THE DATA the
board for the class to see. They children were able to look at the information
and think about how the “Xs” relate to the number of people with a certain
number of pockets. The teacher was also taking the comments/statements students
made about the numbers and writing them on the board. Essentially, I think one
thing that took place was COLLABOATION. Although the students were not
necessarily working together, they shared input and fed off of one another’s
ideas in a whole group setting. The teacher encouraged students to repeat
comments made by other children or put the comments into their own words (i.e.:
Do you remember what Denise said?”, “Can you explain what she said?
, “Can you expand on that comment?”).
, “Can you expand on that comment?”).
• What struck you
about the students’ thinking?
I noticed how that many of the
students struggled to put their thoughts into words, yet they used the data on
the board to guide their ideas. Moreover, they talked through their ideas as a
class, perhaps helping students gain insight from their peers. I could tell
that the students tended to use words they already knew to describe the
“ranking” of pockets. For example, some students commented that MORE people had
five pockets than others or that the number of people with X-number of pockets
was HIGH. I was impressed to see them using the data chart to develop such
statements.
• What struck you
about the teachers’ moves?
First of all, I like how the
teacher used a real-life situation to teach this lesson. She began the lesson
by having students count their pockets, an engaging and hands-on activity to
get each student involved. It almost felt like the lesson was not a math lesson
at all, but a conversation about how information can be represented on a graph.
To add to this, I like how the teacher seemed to make the lesson a positive
experience that encouraged students to give their input. She was even seated on
the floor with them, not only to let them see the board, but perhaps to get on
their level and talk with them about the data. As mentioned earlier, I like how
she asked a lot of engaging questions to help students think. She did not
provide answers/information, but guided them to find the answers by listening
to peers and looking at the data.
• As you think about
each of these, what’s the idea the students are working on?
Ultimately, I think the
objective of the lesson was to have students classify objects (number of
people) into given categories (number of pockets). They also worked on how to
represent and interpret the data they collected from the class. They were
involved in gathering the data (counting pockets) and talking about how these
numbers were connected to the different categories depicted on the chart
(number of pockets). I think the students did a great job of gaining some sort
of understanding about these ideas.
Article:
Statistics in the Elementary Grades
Reflect on your
previous experiences of learning about data collection and analysis as a
student in the elementary classroom.
Thinking
back to my experiences in my elementary math classes, I can recall some interesting
data collection and analysis activities. My 1st grade teacher once
had the class line up according to the months in which we were born. One
section of the room was labeled January while others were marked as February,
March, and so on… After being separated by months, we counted the members and
“reported” our number to the whole class. The teacher had drawn a large graph on
the board (each student also had a copy of the graph) and plotted the number of
students for each month on the graph. After gathering the data for each month,
our groups had to come up with three statements about what the graph was
telling us. This was one entertaining way I was introduced to the subject of
data/statistics. It was fun learning about which of my classmates had birthdays
in the same month as me!
I can
also remember a fun follow-up activity to a math integrated science lesson my 5th
grade teacher taught. She began by showing the class what a rain gauge was and
how people use it to measure the amount of rain has fallen in a certain number
of days. She then told the class that we were going to start measuring how much
rain had fallen at the end of each week and then record our findings on a
graph. I can remember being anxious to measure the rain each week and graph the
data onto our class chart. It was a fun way to the progression each week! This
activity was used as an extension to some science lessons I can remember. As we
learned about the rain cycle and weather, we would often look at the amount of
rainfall from other parts of the world and compare/contrast the data to the
amount of rain we collected. It was interesting!
Were your experiences
similar to the type of lessons that were presented in this article?
I can
say that my experiences are somewhat similar to at least one of the lessons
presented in the article. The birth month activity relates to the shoe activity
in that it physically required students to collect data. In my case, my
classmates and I counted our members then recorded the data on our graphs. The
“shoe activity” really allowed students to get involved and place their shoes
in a certain category and represented the data using the shoes themselves. I do
realize that these activities differ in that one only gathered categorical data (shoe activity) while
the birth month activity asked students to collect quantitative data. The same can be said about the rainfall
measuring activity. As a class, we gathered numerical information to share on a
graph. Having read the article, I believe that my teacher did a great job of
guiding her students to interpret the results of the activity. I can remember
learning about the weather in other parts of the world and answer questions
such as: “How does our rainfall compare to the rainfall in Thailand during
monsoon season?” I was reminded of this when I read about similar extension
questions to ask students during the shoe activity (i.e.: “What if we collected
these data at a school in Hawaii? In Canada’s Northwest Territories?”). I can
see that these are all examples of guiding students to seek differences in distributions of data.
I will
could not find many similarities between my personal experiences and the
“soccer score” activity other than they all required the collection of quantitative data.
How did you learn
about data/statistics?
As a
young student, I think the best way I learned about data and statistics was by
simply having hands on experiences with collecting and studying data. Many of
my teachers (Elementary and beyond) gave their classes real-world scenarios
that allowed students to gather information/numbers and analyze the results. This
was mainly done by conducting class/peer surveys about a specific question. It
was always interesting to look at the work and discuss how the data would look
if something was done differently.
What surprised you
about the lessons that you read about?
I
thought the lessons in described in the articles were very interesting! The
shoe activity was certainly “hands on”. I was surprised (and impressed) by how
the teacher chose to have the students represent the categorical data. Instead
of using markers or manipulatives, the actual shoes were used to show the
number or distribution of shoes in
each category—so neat!! I was also surprised to notice that this “shoe lesson”
did not require the students to write or physically record the results on
paper—they simply discussed each of the categories and studied the placement of
the shoes to guide their thinking. I think this goes to show you that you don’t
always HAVE to copy down information to ask/answer questions or come up with
certain conclusions.
As
for the “soccer problem” lesson, I was very surprised at how this activity was
completed. I never took any type of Statistics class in high school or college
so I haven’t heard much about the terms: fair,
or equal, share values mentioned in the article. I was surprised to see the
lesson direct teachers to use the cubes to represent the data (I never thought
about that!). Moreover, it was interesting (and a little confusing) to read
about taking the cubes (representing the points), placing them together, and
then taking them apart to demonstrate the fair/equal share values. I would
never would have thought to do something like that.
Statistics
as Problem Solving Module from Annenberg
• What do you think
of when you hear the word statistics?
When I
hear the word statistics, I think immediately think about numbers and things
like graphs, surveys, data, and percentages. I also think about using the data
in ways to make a point or keep track of information. Essentially I think:
MATH…and a little bit of dread. I think this has a lot to do with my negative
experiences with math and numbers in general. Nevertheless, I think statistics
are important. The results collected from surveys help experts in certain
fields make note of possible improvements or changes (i.e. doctors, economists,
etc.). Without statistics, we might not know what routes to take.
• Think of a general
question that could be answered with statistics. Now think carefully about the
four components of the statistical process. How could you carry out each step
in order to answer your question?
General question: How tall are the players
on the school’s basketball team?
In response to the statistical process lined out in the
Annenberg lesson, I have come up with the following ideas to consider when
carrying out each step:
Step 1: Ask a Question
When using this
step, you have to make sure that you have an appropriate question. I think this
can be used to remind people to think if whether or not the question provides all
of the necessary information and if the question would yield a variety of
answers. Asking only one player on the team how tall he/she is would not
present you with multiple numbers. This would not give you a good idea of how
tall basketball players really are, either. The general question I presented
covers the idea of gathering data for the players on the team.
Step 2: Collect Appropriate Data
When it
is time to collect your data for this statistical question, it is important to
use at least two types of measurements multiple times. It can be easy to collect
inaccurate measurements. I could use a ruler, yardstick, and a measuring tape. When
thinking about my particular question, I’ve always heard that people measure at
different heights at different times of the day. With further research about
this, it may be that measurements need to be taken at the same time of day for
each person on the basketball team—just a thought. It would also be important
to make sure that all players are measured with their shoes and socks removed.
Step 3: Analyze the
Data
Once
data is collected for this survey, it would be important to organize and
present the information in ways that are easy to read and understand. This
could mean using graphs, charts, and tables that showcase the data that was
gathered. These items will be used to visibly show the variety of results (in
this case, heights) that were collected.
Step 4: Interpret the Results
Based
on the organized data, I should be able to provide an answer to my general
question. The visuals that would be presented would showcase the heights of the
players of the school’s basketball team.
• Think of a statistical question and a
population.
Question: Would voters in the United States of America elect
a woman to be the president?
Population: Registered voters in the United States
How could you
determine a representative sample of that population?
In
order to determine the representative sample, you could poll a smaller number
of registered voters (10,000) by asking them if they would ever vote for a
woman.
What would be a
sample that is not representative?
A
sample that does not include an equal number men and women, young and old
voters. Older voters may not be open to the idea of a woman president, so
surveying a group of 40+ year old voters would not be yield accurate results. On
the other hand, it could be that a majority of young people are in favor of having
a woman president, so strictly surveying them would not be appropriate. The
same goes when asking male and female voters for their opinions. Polling more
males than females (and vice versa) would result in a bias.
Other
questions to explore
·
Describe
the four components of the statistical process and a possible statistical
question that could be used for a data project.
The Annenberg lesson for this
module describes the four components of the statistical process:
1)
Ask a question
Carefully choose a question that can be answered by the collection of
data.
2)
Collect data
Data can be collected in a number of ways. Measurement, sampling, and
experimentation are all ways to gather data.
3)
Analyze data
Organize and summarize the data you collect. If there are
differences/variations in the information, you must show how the data differs.
4)
Interpret results
In this step, you use your analyzed data to answer your initial question.
Example of a statistical question: Do
NFL players make more money than NBA players?
·
Observe a
group of people (such as people waiting in line at the movies, grocery store,
etc…). Explore the different ways you might collect data and categorize them
(eye or hair color, type of shoe, left handed or right handed, color of
backpack or book bag, color or style of clothing, etc…). Discuss which ways
yield the most interesting information and best fit the group.
Let’s say that I am waiting in line
at the ticket counter at the movie theatre. The controversial movie called
American Sniper, which has had major success in the box office in the first two
weeks of showing, is being played at this theater. I think it would be
interesting to examine the crowd and observe the people who are going to see
this movie. I would look to see how many of these people are military and see
what their appearance says about their status. More men than women? Tattoos?
Military haircut? Young military members? Veterans? I think these observations
would lead me to determine what population of people are responsible for making
this movie such a huge success.
