Mathematics Grade 2
Strand: MEASUREMENT AND DATA (2.MD) Standard 2.MD.10
Students will be involved in collecting and describing data. They will learn to predict information, find the actual amount, and compare their findings with their predictions.
Additional Resources
Books
Students should be involved in collecting and describing data. Students will learn to predict information and then find the actual amount. They will compare their findings with their predictions. Students should be taught and very familiar with the following graphs: Bar graphs, line graphs, and pictographs. Students will choose and construct their own graphs. The Tiger Math activity is a great review and assessment of how well they have learned each of the graphs.
2. Become effective problem solvers by selecting appropriate methods,
employing a variety of strategies, and exploring alternative approaches to
solve problems.
4. Communicate mathematical ideas and arguments coherently to peers,
teachers, and others using the precise language and notation of mathematics.
5. Connect mathematical ideas within mathematics, to other disciplines, and to everyday experiences.
Invitation to Learn
This activity is called Drops on Pennies. Hold up a penny and a cup of water. Do you think the penny can hold water like the cup? How many drops do you think it can hold? Think to yourself first and write your prediction in your journal: I think the penny will hold ____ drops of water because ________. Have a few students share their answer. Come to a class consensus. How about other coins like a dime, nickel and quarter? As a class, come to a consensus for each of the coins.
Prepare 2 class charts ahead of time; chart #1 with the data table and chart #2 with the bar graph as shown in the attached Drops on Pennies Data Chart document. Post the charts prominently in front of the classroom. RECORD THE CLASS PREDICTIONS ON CHART #1.
Tell students that they will work in groups to see if their predictions are correct. Divide the class into small groups of no more than four per group. Give each group a bag of coins, an eye dropper, and a cup of water. Each member of the group is responsible for one coin. Each member will take turns doing the following with their coin.
1) Put their coin on top of a paper towel.
2) Fill their eye dropper with water and carefully drop water on their coin.
3) Keep track of the number of drops of water the coin can hold.
4) Record the number of drops on chart #1 in the space provided for their group only.
Once the class chart #1 is filled, have them compare their prediction with the actual numbers that groups got and see if they were close. Demonstrate how to represent the information in a bar graph. Involve the class in making a bar graph with the data.
Have a class discussion. Compare the number of drops of the different coins. What do you notice? What information does our bar graph give us about the coins? Then have students come up with their own questions. For example, do all pennies hold the same amount of water? What other things besides size affect the number of drops each coin can hold? Will salt water make a difference?
Instructional Procedures
Tiger Math
In this activity you will give students the opportunity to read a graph and then transfer their knowledge to make a different kind of graph. This can be done in their journals and it is a great way to assess their knowledge of graphing different types of graphs.
Family Connections
Baxter, J.A., Woodward, J., & Olson, D. (2001). Writing in mathematics: An alternative form of communication for academically low-achieving students.
In this study, they analyze how one teacher used writing to support communication in a seventh-grade, low-track mathematics class. For one school year, they studied four low-achieving students in the class. Students wrote in journals on a weekly basis. Using classroom observations and interviews with the teacher, they developed profiles of the four students, capturing their participation in class discussions. The profiles highlighted an important similarity among the four students: marginal participation in both small-group and whole class discussions. However, their analysis of the students' journals identified multiple instances where the students were able to explain their mathematical reasoning, revealing their conceptual understanding, ability to explain, and skill at representing a problem.
Stepanek, J., Jarrett, D. (1997). Assessment strategies to inform science and mathematics instruction; it's just good teaching. (ERIC Identifier: ED415114) Retrieved November 24, 2006.
Using assessment to inform instruction is one of the most powerful tools a teacher has to improve her teaching. It is also one of the most overlooked. Teachers routinely use assessments for a variety of reasons, most often to assign grades and to report students' progress to their parents. However, assessment's real power is its ability to shape and direct classroom instruction.