Watch the video or read the transcript below:

• Navigating Through Data Analysis and Probability in Prekindergarten-Grade 2
• Navigating Through Data Analysis and Probability in Grades 3-5

Then by the time we get through all of that, we’re like, “data, measurement, geometry, what’s that?” So today we’re going to take a look at some of the ways that we can build data because probability is just a very small piece of what we do in elementary school. Most of the probability stuff comes later. Upper elementary has a little bit. But we’re going to focus today on data specifically.

Now, I’ve mentioned these books before, but one of the pieces where I’m going to draw some of our information from are these books, the Navigating Through series. And this one is all about data analysis and probability. There is one for Pre K-2 and there’s also one for 3rd-5th Grade, and 6th-8th if you work with upper-grades kids too.

Understand the Fundamental Components

Our first one is being able to formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data to answer them.

Now, we all know kids are constantly asking why, and asking all kinds of questions. Take time to allow kids to ask questions and come up with questions that we can actually find data about. Allow the kids to come up with the questions, collect that data, organize it, and then decide what that data is telling them.

That’s the second piece is to select and use appropriate statistical methods to analyze data.

Now that sounds really fancy, but in the elementary grades, basically, we need them to be able to look at data and be able to answer basic questions. They may not be finding the mean, median, mode, that kind of statistical things that we think about, in the elementary school, but they should be able to tell us when something is way off, like an outlier. They should be able to tell us kind of the average. We aren’t maybe using those terms, but what is the most popular, etc. If they’re doing a survey about their favorite colors, they should be able to look at that data and decide what statistical things is it telling me?

Now the third piece is to be able to develop and evaluate inferences and predictions that are based on that data.

Using that data to decide, we have to ask things like,

“What do you think would happen if?”

“If this goes on over the long term, what could we predict?”

All of those kinds of things. So, being able to just say, this is the data we have right now, and be able to answer questions like how many more people do this, but also being able to make an inference or a prediction about like, well, we surveyed 10 people. What would happen if we surveyed 100 people, right? And if it was something that’s longitudinal data, can we make some predictions about what might happen next year or in a month, or whatever that data is pertaining to.

Now our fourth one is to be able to understand and apply basic concepts of probability.

As I mentioned earlier, our kids in elementary school aren’t finding the probability of certain circumstances. That comes later. But they should be able to tell us what’s most likely, least likely, and be able to see if there’s a 100% chance, a 50% chance, 0% chance, or somewhere in the middle. Those basic ideas of probability will then help kids when they go to actually do the exact probability of stuff to be able to decide, does that even make sense? When they go to do those calculations, do they have a foundation of those basic ideas of probability?

So those things, those four things, are the things that we need to build around data and probability.

Make It Real

When you open up the textbook and there’s this graph and the kids have to pull out information from that, it’s not connected to them. They don’t enjoy it. Data is one of those places in mathematics where you can bring it into your world, into your kids’ world, and ask them, what do you want to ask questions about? This is all the times when we bring in the things that annoy us about the kids right now, right?

Like, Fortnite is super huge right now. You could be doing all kinds of things about having kids ask their own questions about Fortnite. Or when Pokemon cards were really big. Or the rubber bands, when kids were making stuff with rubber bands. Whatever the fad is, let them do data about that. And our textbooks, it depends on when your textbook was made, but a lot of them were written many, many years ago, so they don’t relate to what our students are loving at the moment. Let them make that data real to them.

And as long as once they do that, once you allow them to formulate that question, they collect and analyze data, you allow them to pull out what are the big statistical things they are seeing:

Which one has the most?
Which one has the least?
Is there one that more people like than others?

Bring out the big ideas, and then let them evaluate and make predictions. That’s basically all we need to do around data.

Then you can throw in some of that probability. Is it likely? Like if we picked somebody at random, and we asked them, “Do you play Fortnite or not?” are we likely to get someone who plays Fortnite or are we not likely, based upon our data? That’s the basics of probability is having them look at that data and decide is it likely, unlikely, and all of that kind of stuff.

It Connects With All The Other Content Areas In Math

I’m going to plead with you here that data is one of those things that allows a fresh look on it. If you’re doing addition, have kids ask questions, create a survey, collect data, organize that data, and then do questions based upon that data that will give them practice with addition and subtraction, whatever it might be, right?

If I put together the people who like purple and the people who like orange, how many people will that be? That becomes an addition problem. Let them use the real-life things that they have come up with to bring in the other areas of mathematics that you feel the pressure of needing to teach.

Alright. I hope that this has helped you build your math mind around data so that you can go build the math minds of your students.

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