Workshop: Problem Solving with Data

Est. Class Sessions: 1–2

Developing the Lesson

Choose Targeted Practice. Ask students to refer to the Workshop Menu on the Workshop: Problem Solving with Data page from the Student Guide. Help students assess their confidence with making bar graphs; using categorical and numerical data; making line plots; reading a table, line plot, or graph to find information about a data set; and making predictions and generalizations about a data set using the median, mode, tables, line plots, and graphs by asking them to reflect on previous work. Have students think about the “Can I Do This?” questions in the left-hand column of the Workshop Menu. See Figure 1 for the expectations related to each question. Ask students to review their work to decide which problems to choose from the following groups:

Students who are “working on it” and need some extra help should circle the problem set marked with a triangle (). These problems provide scaffolded support for developing the essential underlying concepts as well as some opportunities for practice.
Students who are “getting it” and just need more practice should circle the problem set marked with a circle (). These problems mainly provide opportunities to practice with some concept reinforcement and some opportunities for extension.
Students who have “got it” and are ready for a challenge or extension should circle problems marked with a square (). These problems provide some practice and then move into opportunities for extension.

Note that students' self-assessment of their own abilities may vary between rows in a menu or between menus. For example, a student might circle the “” questions in one row and the “” or “” questions in another row or in a subsequent menu. A student's comfort and ability may vary by Expectation, and the Workshop allows each student to choose problems flexibly based on what type of practice he or she needs for each “Can I Do This?” question.

Check students' choices to see how well they match your own assessment of their progress on the related Expectations. Help students make selections that will provide the kind of practice they need. Figure 1 shows the Expectations for this Workshop and provides questions to help students decide what practice they need.

Once students select the questions to complete in the Workshop, match groups of students who have chosen similar sets of problems from the menu. Have students work together with a partner or in a small group to solve the problems they chose. The problems for this workshop are in the Student Guide on the Workshop: Problem Solving with Data pages.

Before students begin work, direct them to the Math Practices page in the Student Guide Reference section.

Ask students to review the first, second, fifth. and sixth Math Practices Expectations with a partner before asking:

As you are working on the problems in the Workshop, what are some of the ways you can make sure you understand what the problem is asking? (Possible response: You need to read each question carefully and think about the question it is asking you to answer. You need to think about the variables that are being studied and the values for each variable. You need to think about the titles or labels for each graph and line plot.)
What strategies or tools can you use to solve each problem? (Possible response: You can use tools like graph paper, line plots, and data tables. You can also use the patterns that you see to solve problems.)
Some problems will ask you to explain your thinking or show how you found your solution. What are some of the things you should include in an explanation so other people know what you are thinking? (Possible response: You can explain your thinking using words to explain each step you took and the tools or strategies you used to solve the problem. You can include drawings to help show your thinking. You should include labels to tell what the numbers mean.)
Why is it important to include labels when you are representing data in tables, line plots, and bar graphs? (Possible response: When you are making a data table, bar graph, or line plot you need to label the axes and title the graph so someone else will know what data you are representing.)

Share Workshop Experience. After students have had time to work on their selected problems, choose a few problems from the Workshop to discuss as a class. You might choose these problems to represent common areas of difficulty for students or areas where students made significant progress over the course of the unit. You may also choose to discuss problems that all or most students would have solved.

Some students may not have completed all of their selected questions before you discuss selected questions with the whole class. While this may mean interrupting students' flow of work, it is also important that students have an opportunity to share their solution strategies. For students who need more time, unfinished problems can be completed at the end of the Workshop lesson as needed. They can also be sent home as homework.