Surveys and Interpreting Data

Our math lessons during the past few days have focused on surveys and interpreting data. We started with simple yes/no surveys. First, I encouraged my students to determine which response had more. Then I challenged my students to find out how many more. Since our math units are inquiry based, I ask my students to prove their answers by showing their thinking on a recording sheet.

The process of inquiry based learning allows students to make learning discoveries to help them develop a deeper understanding of the concepts we are trying to teach. We stop frequently during work time to allow students time to share their thinking (which often sparks new ideas and or deepens the understanding for other students). My job is to ask carefully planned questions to guide them to make those meaningful discoveries, rather than teaching them in a direct lesson format.

At first, many of my students were able to come up with the correct answer to how many more, but proving it by showing their thinking was the challenge. I also expect them to be able to use math talk to help a partner or our group understand their thinking. We follow the rules for discussions that I posted about a few weeks ago during math discussions each day.

The surveys I used are from the Survey Pack that I recently posted on Tpt and at Teachers Notebook. You can read a detailed description about it by clicking on the image below. It will take you to my Tpt store.

I'm off to cheer for my favorite baseball team.  Go Tigers!!!  I'm also hoping to wake up to 800 tomorrow morning.  So close...