Learning activities/School Census
Notes from Nigeria 5/07
"Wednesday was for Primary 6... [The teacher] chose to do math. The topic was graphs. He introduced the concept of ‘population’ to the children, asking them if they knew what it meant. We listened to different answers. Then he explained that the objective of the day was to know the population of Galadima School and how they could represent it with graphs. He went on to explain bar graphs. Afterwards, with my suggestion, we split into 5 teams, and each one had to go to a classroom and count the number of boys and the number of girls in it. My team had to go to Primary 5. The children asked the classroom teacher for permission to count the students because it was part of their class work. When we came back, [the teacher] explained with lots of details how to graph the Galadima School population. Children didn't wait until he explained the whole thing. They were already in Paint making the graph. They wanted to be accurate, so they tried and tried... and tried and tried... until one of them came up with a way to do it easier or faster. Then they shared the trick with the others... but then someone else came up with a way of doing it more accurately and passed it on to the others... Everybody was really into their work or helping others..." --Carla Gomez Monroy, Learning Consultant, OLPC
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Activity: School Census
Count the number of students in your class; then, make a graph to display your results.
Created By
School Galadima, Primary 6 Teacher
Suggested Age Group
Grades 4-6
Subjects and Skills
Math: Counting, graphing, understanding data and statistics.
Arts: Understanding visual displays of information, creating graphs with Draw
Technology: Using Draw to make graphs.
Goals and Objectives
Understanding the concept of population.
Understanding the concept of bar graphs.
Practicing counting skills.
Teamwork.
Resources
- Pencil and paper
Activity
- Introduce concept of population, using example of class as population.
- Explain how to represent population with a bar graph.
- Split into teams-- one team for each classroom in grade (or school)-- and send students to count the number of boys and girls in each class.
- In teams, use Draw to make a graph for each class.
- As a class, use Draw to make a graph for the grade (or school).
Extended Activities
Family Census
- At home, count the number of members of your family, noting girls and boys.
- Use Draw to make a graph of the number of girls and boys in your family.
- At school, report the number of members of your family, noting girls and boys.
- In teams, use Draw to make the following graphs: family size, number of children, number of girls, and number of boys.
- Share your team's graph with the class.
Pie Charts
- With the same data, explain how to represent population with pie charts.
- Split into teams-- use Draw to convert each bar graph to a pie chart.
- As a class, use Draw to make a pie chart for the grade (or school).
Related Activities
- Poll Builder: Lesson Plan Overview
- Bar Charts: http://cnx.org/content/m10217/latest/
- Survey Says: http://www.mamamedia.com/areas/grownups/new/learning/lessons/lesson_12.html
Commentary
Comments, feedback, links to other classes using this activity.