K-4 MATHEMATICS STANDARDS

    REASONING ACTIVITY

    Standard's bullets addressed by activity

    • use models, known facts, properties, and relationships to explain their thinking
    • justify their answers and solution processes
    • use patterns and relationships to analyze mathematical situations

    Materials needed

    • Students will decide in their groups how to best collect the data.

    Technology

    • Calculators are optional but highly recommended.
    • Computers with software that have graphing capabilities are optional but highly recommended.

    Description of Activity

  • Group or classroom management practices

      • Kosrae has 4 villages: Lelu, Tafunsak, Malem, and Utwe. Students should work in small groups of three or four members, grouped according to where they live.

    Each group needs to specify in which section of their village they will collect data. They will spend five minutes by the road on each of seven consecutive days to record the number and the color of cars and trucks that pass by within this time frame.

    Students will decide for themselves how to best collect the data. Some things they need to consider on their own may include:

    • What part of the village would be best to collect data?
    • When is the best time to collect this information?
    • Should we collect this information at the same time everyday? If so, why is this important? If not, why isn't it important?
    • How should we record our information? Would making a table to keep track of our tallies be helpful?

    After collecting the data each group will decide how best to report the information. Some decisions they need to make on their own may include:

    • What is the best way to share the information with the class?
    • If we decide to graph the data, what type of graph would be best?
    • Could we report the information in other ways?

    Different groups share their data with the rest of the class. What kinds of facts or inferences can the class conclude from each group's report? Some of these may include:

    • Are there more cars or trucks in their village? How can we verify it?
    • If trucks are more popular, why is this so?
    • Is there a particular color of vehicle that is most popular? Why is this so?
    • How useful are the data we gathered? Who would use the data?
  • Extensions

    • This activity can be modified for a specific grade-level. Other kinds of information can be collected, for example, the amount of rainfall each month, the types of crops grown in a village, the number of tourists that visit the island each month, and so on.

    Reference

    Kosrae Department of Education: Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia.