September 30, 2013
We continued working on graphing today, and the different ways of displaying your data. We took some data, and put it into an Excel-type program, and created bar graphs and pie charts form the data. Here is an instructional video to help someone enter data into an Excel spreadsheet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyE9kfuGEEI
It's interesting because it's possible, and really easy to take the data you entered into a spreadsheet, which on it's own is helpful for keeping data organized and visible, and make a bar graph or a pie chart with it. I chose this instructional video because I thought the guy was just adorable. He really loves this stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZKMIRVsMlI
The same instructions apply for other types of graphs, as well. The program is easily customized, and for me, took less than 30 minutes to enter the data, construct two graphs, and print them off. It was very simple. Actually, when we started, I was worried I wouldn't be able to do it easily, and I would be the old lady in the class who couldn't figure out those newfangled computer devices, but it was really no big deal, and I could see myself entering classroom data and creating charts for my own use.
By the way, the program I actually used wasn't a Microsoft program, but a FREE Google docs program, and works basically the same way, which is awesome because I refuse to pay the exorbitant prices those Microsoft yahoos charge when I can get all the same stuff for FREE!!
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
September 25, 2013
We have moved on from the exciting world of mean, mode and median to a hearty discussion on the complexities of different types of graphs. There are quite a few.
Stem-and Leaf plot-Not the most accurate, easy to read graph ever produced, it's still pretty easy to make. It might be good for things like comparing scores, and the frequency of scores, but other graphs can do that just as well.
This is a basic image of one, and is pretty easy to figure out. This might be data of test scores, or people's ages, or trips to the bathroom, for all I know, but it gives you the general idea.
Scatter Plot--A scatter plot is a good graph to use if you would like to see how data is following a particular trend. There is a horizontal and vertical axis, and the data points are placed on it according to their frequency, and a line following the general direction of the points will lend information to its trend.
This scatter plot shows the relationship between the ages of husbands and wives, and tells us that the trend is positive that as men get older, so do their wives. Something like that.
Histogram and Bar Graph--I included these together because they are similar, and their differences complement each other nicely. In a histogram, the bars touch, the data has a relationship to each other, and they need to be in a particular order. In a bar graph, the data is categorical, and since there's no relationship between the data, the bars do not touch.
Pie Chart--A pie chart is a good graph to illustrate the parts of a whole.
Dot Plot--A dot plot is a good visual representation of frequency in data.
Line Graph--A line graph is effective for showing changes over time.
Pictograph--A pictograph uses pictures to illustrate the data, and should have a legend attached to describe the frequency amounts.
We have moved on from the exciting world of mean, mode and median to a hearty discussion on the complexities of different types of graphs. There are quite a few.
Stem-and Leaf plot-Not the most accurate, easy to read graph ever produced, it's still pretty easy to make. It might be good for things like comparing scores, and the frequency of scores, but other graphs can do that just as well.
Scatter Plot--A scatter plot is a good graph to use if you would like to see how data is following a particular trend. There is a horizontal and vertical axis, and the data points are placed on it according to their frequency, and a line following the general direction of the points will lend information to its trend.
Histogram and Bar Graph--I included these together because they are similar, and their differences complement each other nicely. In a histogram, the bars touch, the data has a relationship to each other, and they need to be in a particular order. In a bar graph, the data is categorical, and since there's no relationship between the data, the bars do not touch.
Pie Chart--A pie chart is a good graph to illustrate the parts of a whole.
Monday, September 23, 2013
September 23, 2013
I think one of the best things about being an education major are the activities. When you learn how to teach graphing with M&M's, you get a bag of M&M's and you count them and graph them. When you learn how to teach mode, median and mean, you get to have an activity to go along with it, complete with blocks and sticky notes and interactivity. It's awesome!
According to my sixth grader, this is the best of all the known math songs videos in all the land of YouYube, and it just so happens to help describe what we want to talk about today. So, without further adieu....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df-BwzLp3Hc
In class, we played "Grab a Handful" instead. We each reached into the box and pulled out a handful of blocks, and counted them. After writing the number on a sticky note, we took our noes and lined up along the wall in order from least to greatest amounts of blocks. The range went from 7 to 17. From this, we learned that the mode, or the number with the most frequency, was 12. We also learned that the median, or number in the middle, was also 12. Finally, after a difficult, slightly confusing activity in which we were to walk around the room haring our blocks until we all had the same amount, we learned that the mean was 11.4. We figured this out because at the end, 9 people had 11 blocks and 12 people had 12 blocks, so it was just under half. Great activity!
I think one of the best things about being an education major are the activities. When you learn how to teach graphing with M&M's, you get a bag of M&M's and you count them and graph them. When you learn how to teach mode, median and mean, you get to have an activity to go along with it, complete with blocks and sticky notes and interactivity. It's awesome!
According to my sixth grader, this is the best of all the known math songs videos in all the land of YouYube, and it just so happens to help describe what we want to talk about today. So, without further adieu....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df-BwzLp3Hc
In class, we played "Grab a Handful" instead. We each reached into the box and pulled out a handful of blocks, and counted them. After writing the number on a sticky note, we took our noes and lined up along the wall in order from least to greatest amounts of blocks. The range went from 7 to 17. From this, we learned that the mode, or the number with the most frequency, was 12. We also learned that the median, or number in the middle, was also 12. Finally, after a difficult, slightly confusing activity in which we were to walk around the room haring our blocks until we all had the same amount, we learned that the mean was 11.4. We figured this out because at the end, 9 people had 11 blocks and 12 people had 12 blocks, so it was just under half. Great activity!
Friday, September 20, 2013
September 18, 2013
Besides being the monentous occasion of my son's 22nd birthday, today was the conclusion of the M&M's project, and I learned something really good. We constructed bar graphs to document the class data from the M&M frequencies. When the graphs were done, we cut the colored bars out, and taped them together to form a ring. On a separate sheet of people, we traced the circle, and put a dot on the bar spaces so it formed the outline of a circle graph. We found the center point of the circle by measuring the diameters, and connected the dots to form divisions in the circle. After coloring in the sections with the appropriate matching colors, and then adding in the percentages, it became a pie chart to rival any that appear in an Excel program.
I also finished a couple sections of the homework today, and it consisted of a large amount of graphs and charts and how to read them. It just took a minute so with the extra time, I started looking around for other educational blogs. We signed up for the Math Blaster newsletter years ago for my youngest boy, and he's always liked it for games, worksheet, and fun. http://www.mathblaster.com
I also like http://www.math-lessons.ca/blog/ because it focuses on some of the math concepts that parents might need to brush up on while trying to help their intermediate school age children with their homework, like decimals and fractions.
Another great site is Dr. Nicki's Guided Math, http://guidedmath.wordpress.com/category/elementary-math/. It's detailed and comprehensive, and is so full of information. She's put a lot of work into it.
Now, I think it's incredibly important for kids to have fun with math, and I also think it's important to have these fun activities available to parents as well as kids when they are at home, so I really like this site:http://www.learn-with-math-games.com/math-games-blog.html. Another, similar site that is really great at making activities easy to teach and has awesome step-by-step instructions is this one: http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/16500/math-for-kids. It's really good.
Besides being the monentous occasion of my son's 22nd birthday, today was the conclusion of the M&M's project, and I learned something really good. We constructed bar graphs to document the class data from the M&M frequencies. When the graphs were done, we cut the colored bars out, and taped them together to form a ring. On a separate sheet of people, we traced the circle, and put a dot on the bar spaces so it formed the outline of a circle graph. We found the center point of the circle by measuring the diameters, and connected the dots to form divisions in the circle. After coloring in the sections with the appropriate matching colors, and then adding in the percentages, it became a pie chart to rival any that appear in an Excel program.
I also finished a couple sections of the homework today, and it consisted of a large amount of graphs and charts and how to read them. It just took a minute so with the extra time, I started looking around for other educational blogs. We signed up for the Math Blaster newsletter years ago for my youngest boy, and he's always liked it for games, worksheet, and fun. http://www.mathblaster.com
I also like http://www.math-lessons.ca/blog/ because it focuses on some of the math concepts that parents might need to brush up on while trying to help their intermediate school age children with their homework, like decimals and fractions.
Another great site is Dr. Nicki's Guided Math, http://guidedmath.wordpress.com/category/elementary-math/. It's detailed and comprehensive, and is so full of information. She's put a lot of work into it.
Now, I think it's incredibly important for kids to have fun with math, and I also think it's important to have these fun activities available to parents as well as kids when they are at home, so I really like this site:http://www.learn-with-math-games.com/math-games-blog.html. Another, similar site that is really great at making activities easy to teach and has awesome step-by-step instructions is this one: http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/16500/math-for-kids. It's really good.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
September 16, 2013
Today is Monday, and the start of a new chapter: Data Analysis/Statistics. This is a subject that's usually greeted with groans and students running for the hills, but we worked with M&M's, so all was well. It was a fun graphing activity, full of candy and crayons, and well worth coming to class for.
Mrs. Klassen generously provided us with individual fun-size bags of m&M's for our experimental probability graphing/data analysis lesson. We all enthusiastically predicted what colors would have the most concentration. I chose brown since it seems like all you get are the ugly brown M&M's. Smart chics are so underrated.
After all our predictions were made, we happily opened our bags and began to sort our different colors into piles of like-with-like, and placed them on our graph.
By the way, this is not the actual graph, nor is it the actual M&M's. Picture a similar graph, and about 19 M&M's altogether instead of the 50 or so you see here. My actual graph, once converted to a pictograph from a real graph, looks a little bit more like this:
Today is Monday, and the start of a new chapter: Data Analysis/Statistics. This is a subject that's usually greeted with groans and students running for the hills, but we worked with M&M's, so all was well. It was a fun graphing activity, full of candy and crayons, and well worth coming to class for.
All told, we learned a lot about M&M's, and a lot about data analysis. Out of my 19 M&M's, I had 1 yellow, 2 red, 4 green, 5 blue, 5 orange, and surprisingly, only 2 brown. The class averaged about the same as mine with 55 yellow, 55 red, 67 green, 78 blue, 97 orange and 78 brown. This data almost matched the percentages of each color as distributed by the M&M company.
Monday, September 16, 2013
September 4, 2013
My name is Tracey Carleton, and this is my math blog. I'm an education/special education major at Northern Arizona University, and Mesa Community College in Mesa, Arizona. I have three kids, ages all spread out-22, 18 and 11- and they've all had different experiences with math. I personally like math, algebra not so much, but I think it's one of my favorite subjects to teach.
This blog is to document the first weeks of a math class I'm taking, and to share good ideas, and fun math lessons I pick up on my journey towards graduation.
My name is Tracey Carleton, and this is my math blog. I'm an education/special education major at Northern Arizona University, and Mesa Community College in Mesa, Arizona. I have three kids, ages all spread out-22, 18 and 11- and they've all had different experiences with math. I personally like math, algebra not so much, but I think it's one of my favorite subjects to teach.
This blog is to document the first weeks of a math class I'm taking, and to share good ideas, and fun math lessons I pick up on my journey towards graduation.
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