Identify, formulate and investigate statistical questions by collecting data considering cultural perspectives, analyzing and interpreting data and communicating the results.
Anchor Standard 9 emphasizes data sciences.
Students will explore the different types and purposes of data sets, variables, and data visualizations (graphs). They will ask statistical questions. Students will select, design, and conduct a data collection, analyzing and representing their collected data. Finally, students will make creative data reports, selecting the best visual model to represent their given data set.
Notice and wonder about data-rich situations or given data sets to ask statistical questions that can be answered with data, with teacher assistance, keeping the type of data needed in mind.
Understand what counts as data and a data set and that there are different data types.
Select, design and conduct a data collection using an appropriate method to answer a statistical question and support a claim, including data collected over a period of time and measurement data; clean and organize data to analyze variability, taking into account missing or incomplete data.
When using given data, including data from Dakota and Anishinaabe Tribal Nations and other communities, select the appropriate variable to answer the statistical question, analyzing where the data came from, who collected it, its purpose and what and whose perspective may be missing.
Discuss the meaning and types of variables when clustering or regrouping data (limited to two variables).
Make predictions and recognize that the reliability and accuracy of predictions depend on many things, e.g. how much data they have and how accurate it is.
Create and critically analyze data visualizations, including but not limited to tables, bar graphs, timelines, line plots and spreadsheets to support a claim and solve problems.
Make a data report creatively, e.g., a poster, video, in writing, to answer statistical questions, including whether the results apply to other groups, any changes that could be made and next steps.
Understand how different representations can highlight different aspects of data and that all arguments, including cause and effect relationships should be supported by the data and analyses.
In this activity, students will become phenologists! Phenology is the study of cyclic and natural phenomena: essentially, the study of seasonal changes.
Over the course of the year, especially during seasonal transitions, collect daily data as a class. You might collect observational weather data- what type of weather do we have today? You might get more technical- using an outdoor thermometer to track temperature, a rain gauge to track rainfall, or a snowboard to track snowfall.
Graph your data as you go! Discuss with students which data visualizations would work best for each data set: a line plot can help to show data over time, while a bar graph will compare monthly or weekly data.
Possible Extension: Use your data collection to assist citizen science initiatives! Check out CitizenScience.gov or the National Geographic list to find a project to join.
In this activity, students become ecologists! Ecology is the study of organisms and their relationships to one another and their environment.
Students will conduct a biodiversity inventory. You may assign each student/team a small area to explore- inside a hula hoop placed on the ground, a larger roped-off area, or your entire outdoor space.
How many different tree, plant, animal, and insect species can you find in your designated area? Students don’t even need to know what they are, they just need to collect the data. Use this data to create graphs or equations, or simply create artwork using your found objects. Remember: if the object is dead, down, and on the ground, you can pick it up. Otherwise, leave it be!
Possible Extension: Use field guides or Google to learn about the different species you observed. Discuss the importance of biodiversity: the more variety of species in an area, the more it thrives! You might also want to discuss invasive species and their impact on the ecosystem.
Teachers and/or students will create a data-collecting experiment. Data can be collected just about anywhere! Count how many birds (or which species) appear at a birdfeeder during a set amount of time. Take note of which species of mushrooms/fungi you can find in your local forest during the fall or spring. How many boxelder bugs are sitting in one square foot of sun versus one square foot of shade? How many types of leaves are laying on your outdoor rug or inside a hula hoop?
Discuss which data visualization models will best represent different types of data sets. Can you use more than one model to showcase different elements of your data set?
Students can partner with a peer, and create a joint graph representing their combined data or comparing their individual data sets. They might also create their own graphs and present their work to the class.
Possible Extension: Use this project as an opportunity to showcase your nature-based learning to the community! Invite parents and community members to a project showcase, where students will display and discuss their findings.