Using Averages to Answer Questions

Discuss Questions and Data. Review with students that the purpose of collecting classroom data and finding the median and mode was to answer a “big question” about the class. Direct students to read the short play in the Analyze Data to Answer a Question section in the Student Guide. This can be done as a Readers' Theater by assigning students to each part or students read the play in small groups. This dialogue is about a fifth-grade class that asked the big question, “How much does our class like animals?”

After reading the selection ask students to work with their group to answer Question 6 in the Student Guide.

Investigate Our Class Data. Now look at your class data. Refer students to the display of the class's data table and graph and to the averages they found and ask students to think about the big question they chose to investigate. Have students work with a partner or in a small group to answer Questions 7–8 in the Student Guide. These questions ask students to decide if their investigation provided the information needed to answer the question and to think about whether they would make changes to the variables they chose to study.

Encourage groups to share their thinking with the class.