For the bar graphs, each group was given a bag of skittles that they had to sort and count. From the data they got, they then had to make a bar graph. This included deciding on the scale (Would going up by 1 fit on their graph paper? If not, what number would be best?), labeling, and coloring the graph. Then they had to find the mode and range, and we talked about which colors occurred most/ least often. They turned out not only accurate, but beautiful!
We also made line plots. For this project we collected data as a class to see how many family members each student had. Then each group had to take the data and create a line plot with it. We talked about mode and range with these graphs as well. Once again, they turned out great- mathematically and artistically!
When we started learning to make graphs, we also learned how to make tally charts to organize our data and get it ready to turn into a graph. I let each group ask whatever question of the class they wanted to for their survey, and they recorded the responses. Then we talked about what we could tell from the tally chart (What category was most/ least popular, if any were the same, how many more people chose one category over another, etc.). It was really fun to see all the creative questions they came up with, and I think we all learned a few more things about each other along the way :)
Graphing has always been my favorite part of math, and I LOVED this unit. Of course it helps that I discovered my class is full of brilliant graphers!
