To bring the ideas of the lesson together, ask students to review the first two pages in the Student Guide. In a class discussion, ask them to compare Elizabeth and Miguel's data to your class data.
- What is the most common number of letters in Elizabeth and Miguel's data? How do you know? (Possible responses: Seven letters because it looks like the most names in the seven row of the data table. The tallest bar is for seven letters on the bar graph.)
- Is it easier to tell how many students have seven letters in their names from Elizabeth and Miguel's data table or their graph? Why do you think so? (Possible response: The graph is easier because it is easy to pick out the tallest bar and then look where it stops on the left. If the bar reaches ten, then the number is ten.)
- What do you think they should do to their data table to make it easier to read? (Possible response: They should add a third column and count the names.)
- What should the title of the third column be? (Number of Students)
- Look at Miguel and Elizabeth's graph and our class graph. How are they alike? How are they different? (Answers will vary. However, students should notice where the tall bars and short bars are located on each graph. There will likely be very short bars for the longest and shortest names. The tall bars will likely center around five, six, or seven letters. Students may also compare the most common number of letters for Elizabeth and Miguel's data (seven) to the most common number of letters in the class data.)
Refer students to and discuss Question 14 in the Student Guide. This question returns to Elizabeth and Miguel's original question about a computer game, “What number of letters should players be able to type for their names?” Students should consider both the range of the numbers of letters in the names as well as the most common number of letters.
Distribute the Lisa's Class Graph Assessment Master from the Teacher Guide. Ask students to complete Questions 1–5 using the graph at the top of the first page.
Use the Lisa's Class Graph Assessment Master and the Feedback Box from the Teacher Guide to assess students' abilities to describe a data set by interpreting a graph [E3] and to make predictions and generalizations about a population using a graph [E4].
