Monday December 16, 2019

Marvellous Monday!!!!

We began the day with math today. We began with activating our prior learning about collecting, displaying, and analyzing data. We looked at a bar graph and a pictograph and discussed the information that was provided in both graphs.

Then we reviewed how to calculate the mean, median, mode and range when given a set of numbers.

3, 5, 8, 2, 1 

First, we learned the importance of arranging the numbers from smallest to largest:

1, 2, 3, 5, 8

To find the mean: add all the number together and then divide by the total numbers

1+2+3+5+8=19  19 divided by 2 is 8.5 

The median is the middle number of your data set when in order from least to greatest. 

1, 2, 3, 5, 8

When given an even number of date student should find the mean of the two middle numbers. For example, if the two middle numbers are 7 and 11, the median is 7+11 divided by 2 which is 9. When given an odd number of data the median is the middle number. 

The mode is the number that occurred the most often. 

This set of data has no mode. 

The range is the difference between the highest and lowest values.

8-1=7

Here are more examples:

We also learned how data collection plays a very crucial role in the statistical analysis. In research, there are different methods used to gather information, all of which fall into two categories: primary data, and secondary data. Primary data is one which is collected for the first time by the researcher while secondary data is the data already collected or produced by others. 
Primary data refers to the first hand data gathered by the researcher themselves.
Surveys, observations, experiments, questionnaire, personal interview, etc.

Secondary data means data collected by someone else earlier.
Government publications, websites, books, journal articles, internal records etc.

Other ways of collecting primary data: telephone, by canvassing door-to-door, or by observing situations.

We were asked, would we use primary or secondary data to find the favourite video game of Grade 6 students in Canada? We came to realize that we would use secondary data because we can’t survey all Grade 6 students in Canada. 

Next, we dove into another crucial understanding when conducting surveys: biased and unbiased questions. We learned the importance of an unbiased question when conducting a survey and that a survey question must not lead a person to a particular answer. We were asked:

What is an example of a biased survey question? Candy is bad for your teeth.  Should children eat candy? Why is this question biased? It includes a statement that may encourage people to answer no.

How can you rewrite the question so that it is unbiased? Should children eat candy? Yes ___ No ___ No opinion. 

During this lesson we also addressed the importance of media literacy and being aware of the information that is being told to us. Biases are all around us. When a company is trying to sell their product, they are going to try and convince their audience to buy their product because this is their job. We learned that it is our job to recognize that biases exist and that we need to do our own research and come to our own opinions and conclusions. 

We then practiced working with primary and secondary data and recognizing biased survey questions and rewriting biased questions in order to make them unbiased. 

We also practiced for Christmas concert and took up the answers for chapter 20-24 for Tuck Everlasting.

Homework:

1. Read Daily

2. Tuck Everlasting Chapter 25 and Epilogue (pages 61-68)

3. Math Questions on mean, median and mode and pages 170-171 Questions 1-6