On the Getting to Know Room 204 pages in the Student Guide, students are introduced to Mrs. Dewey's fourth-grade classroom. Throughout the year, the fictional students in Room 204 will appear in lessons to offer their own data for analysis and to share their ideas and explanations.
One way to begin the lesson is to ask students to look at the pictures of Mrs. Dewey's class on the opening page as you read their names. Then ask students to read the Getting to Know Room 204 pages in the Student Guide to their partners. Another way is to lead the lesson without the vignette and begin with the Discuss section of the Getting to Know Room 204 pages. Then use the vignette in the Student Guide pages as closure after your class has collected, organized, graphed, and explored their own data.
Introduce Class Characteristics Investigation. The vignette in the Student Guide describes a fourth-grade classroom that is investigating characteristics of their class and that of their pen pals. It gives the definitions of variable (something that changes or varies in an investigation, such as hair color) and value (the specific amounts measured, types of objects observed, or qualities asked about, such as brown or blonde). The vignette ends with Room 204's data table and graphs.
Making a Table of Variables and Values. The Discuss section in the Student Guide asks students to make a table like the one for Mrs. Dewey's class that lists variables they can study to get to know each other, along with possible values for the variables. First, have students work in small groups to gather ideas. Ask them to list variables and values in a data table as shown in Figure 1. Then, pull the class together and list some of their ideas on a class table you create on easel paper, poster-size graph paper, or a display of the Three-Column Data Table Master. See Figure 1 for examples.
Save the class data table created in this lesson for further discussion later in the activity and for use in Lesson 2. In Lesson 2, the third column will be filled in to indicate whether the variable is “numerical” or “categorical.”
Because students will often work in groups throughout the year, introduce routines that encourage effective group work as part of these first activities. For example, to generate a list of variables, groups can use a cooperative learning structure known as Roundtable. Give each group a copy of a Three-Column Data Table Master. (See Figure 1 for table headings.) To begin, one group member writes a variable in the left-hand column of the data table, and the other members take turns listing possible values for the variable. As discussion continues, each member of the group has a chance to write a variable in the data table as well as to add possible values. If a student cannot think of a variable or value, he or she may ask for help from the rest of the group.
A whole-class discussion of the reports from the groups should follow. Use the class data table to record students' ideas.
