Grade 7 - Statistics and Probability (Data Analysis)

The sub-organizer contains the following sections:
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Suggested Instructional Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
Recommended Learning Resources

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will develop and implement a plan for the collection, display, and analysis of data, using measures of variability and central tendency.

It is expected that students will:

formulate questions that explore whether or not a relationship exists in a real-world context
select and justify appropriate methods of collecting data (designing and using questionnaires, interviews, experiments, research)
display data by hand or by computer in a variety of ways, including circle graphs
read and interpret graphs that are provided
determine measures of central tendency for a set of data:
determine measures of the distribution of a set of data:
- range
- extremes, gaps, and clusters
- quartiles
interpolate from data to make predictions

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Statistics and Probabilities (Data Analysis) in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

Statistics allow us to make a summary of what we know of the world and to make inferences about things we do not know. Young students pose questions based on their immediate environment. Students' investigations expand to include community and global issues. Often the questions they wish to investigate are raised in social studies and science contexts. Statistics are also used frequently in the world of sports.

Have students formulate and implement a plan to pursue a question of interest to them, such as:
- How does height relate to jumping ability?
- Does your pet prefer dry or moist food?
Discuss appropriate ways to collect and display data for different kinds of questions. Their plan must include a method for collecting data (e.g., experimental measurement, library research, survey forms), for organizing and graphing the data, and for drawing conclusions or raising further questions from the investigation.
Using students' graphs, discuss with the class what information can be derived from them such as mean, median, mode, and range.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

When students gather their own data, they are familiar with and interested in the information. They develop a greater understanding of what it means to organize and summarize data and are then better able to draw conclusions and to make predictions for new contexts.

Collect

After a whole-class discussion, ask students to write to reflect on their reasoning, including information about revisions they may have made. Look for evidence of logical reasoning. For example, how does the student explain why the average is between the highest and lowest values?
After students have had opportunities to display information in a variety of ways, ask them to make a list of the decisions that need to be made when summarizing and displaying data.
Work with the class to develop task specifications and a checklist or rating scale that specifies criteria for scoring their investigations.