Minds On
Pictographs
A Grade 2 class noticed there were a lot of pieces of garbage such as chip bags in the recycling bin at school.
They wanted to track the data, so they recorded how many pieces of garbage were in the recycling bin each day for five days.
They recorded this data in a pictograph.
| Day | Amount of Garbage Found in the Recycling Bin |
|---|---|
| Monday |
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Tuesday |
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Wednesday |
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Thursday |
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Friday |
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The pictograph has two columns. The first column is titled Day and the second column is titled Amount of Garbage Found in the Recycling Bin. The first row is Monday and there is 1 chip bag. The second row is Tuesday and there are 3 chip bags. The third row is Wednesday and there are 4 chip bags. The fourth row is Thursday and there are 3 chip bags. The fifth row is Friday and there are 5 chip bags.
What does the data tell us?
Examine the bar graph below of the data collected.
Use the following questions to reflect on the graphs. You can type, write, use speech to text, or audio record your responses.
- Which graph displayed the data more clearly? Why do you think this is?
- Which graph would you use to share the data with others? Why?
- Why might people be throwing garbage in the recycling bin?
- What could students learn from these graphs about how much garbage is in the recycling bin at school?
Action
Same data, different graphs
We just explored the same set of data in two different graphs. In this task, we are going to explore data organized in a tally table, then a bar graph.
A teacher surveyed 20 students in their Grade 2 class to help them decide what types of plants to grow in their school garden. Each person in the class could vote for one type of seed to plant in the garden.
They recorded the data in a tally table and then displayed the data in a bar graph.
Favourite Plants for the School Garden
| Plant | Tallies |
|---|---|
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Sunflower 
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Rose 
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Hydrangeas 
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Lettuce 
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Tomatoes 
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Pepper 
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There is a table chart titled Tally Chart Favourite Plants for the School Garden. The first column is
titled Plant. The second column is titled Tallies.
There are 6 rows.
Row1: sunflower, 3 tally marks. Row 2: roses, 4 tally marks. Row 3: hydrangeas, 4 tally marks. Row 4:
lettuce, 6 tally marks. Row 5: tomato, 2 tally marks. Row 6: pepper, one tally mark.
What does the data tell us?
Use the following questions to reflect on the graphs. You can type, write, use speech to text, or audio record your responses.
- What does the data tell you? Why do you think this?
- What are the top four preferred seeds to plant in the garden?
- Which of these seeds would you prefer?
- What four plants would you choose to plant in a school garden? Why?
Press ‘Hint’ to reveal some sample answers.
The data tells me that lettuce had the most votes (6 votes) and pepper had the least (1 vote). I can tell by looking at the tally table but also because lettuce has the tallest bar on the graph and pepper has the shortest.
The top four preferred seeds to plant in the garden are: lettuce, hydrangeas, sunflowers and roses.
I would prefer the hydrangea because bees like them and they are pretty.
I would choose to plant the four plants that had the most votes because I think that’s what most people wanted.
Organizing data
Now it is your turn to organize and display data.
A local recreational centre is buying new sports equipment for its after-school programs.
This is the sporting equipment available:
A group of people were surveyed to find out what sports equipment they think the recreation centre should buy and the following data was collected:
Soccer ball: 5 people
Basketball: 1 person
Skipping rope: 3 people
Tennis ball: 3 people
Scoops and balls: 2 people
Football: 1 person
Badminton Racquets and Birdies: 1 person
Baseball gloves: 1 person
Find the top three pieces of sports equipment.
Record and display your data in the Sporting Equipment Tally Table. You can also create your own tally table or record your answers using a voice recorder.
| Sporting Equipment | Tally Marks |
|---|---|
Press the ‘Activity’ button to access Sporting Equipment Tally Table.
Press ‘Answers’ to reveal the solution.
| Sporting Equipment | Tally Marks |
|---|---|
| Soccer ball | |
| Basketball | |
| Skipping rope | |
| Tennis ball | |
| Scoops and balls | |
| Football | |
| Badminton racquets and birdies | |
| Baseball gloves |
Choose how you would like to display your data. You may create a pictograph, a bar graph, or a line plot or even write a detailed description of how you would display the data.
A line plot needs:
- A title (introduces the data in the graph or table)
- A number line that is labelled and has values in different categories
- X’s to mark the number of each value
A pictograph needs:
- A title to introduce the data in the graph or table
- A picture to represent the data
- The choices listed in rows
- A key that uses a picture to represent a number
A bar graph needs:
- A title (introduces the data in the graph or table)
- Categories for each bar
- Labels for the x-axis along the bottom (horizontally) and the y-axis along the side (vertically)
- Scale (how do the numbers increase for the graph?)
If you choose to display your data with a bar graph, you can use the following Bar Graph Tool to create your graph.
What does this data tell you?
What sports equipment would you recommend buying for the recreation centre? Why?
Record your thoughts using a method of your choice.
Press ‘Hint’ to reveal some sample answers.
The data tells me that there were 17 people surveyed.
Soccer ball had the most votes with 5, but 5 out of 17 people isn’t that many people.
I think I would recommend buying soccer ball, skipping ropes, and tennis balls because they had the most votes.
Consolidation
Sets of Data
You have worked with a lot of data in this activity. Answer these questions about the different data sets you explored.
- In the Minds On section, you explored the issue of garbage in the class recycling bin.
- In the Action section, you explored planting a school garden.
- In the Action section, you chose sporting equipment based on your data.
Of these three sets of data:
- Which did you enjoy working with the most? Why?
- Which type of table or graph do you prefer when exploring data? Why?
- You were asked to display data on a bar graph, pictograph, or line plot. What did you choose? Why?
- If you could choose one of these data sets to explore some more, which would you choose? Why?
Reflection
How do you feel about what you have learned in this activity? Which of the next four sentences best matches how you are feeling about your learning? Press the button that is beside this sentence.
I feel…
Now, record your ideas about your feelings using a voice recorder, speech-to-text, or writing tool.