Data Analysis and Probability
Through daily experiences, children learn to answer questions of practical value by organizing, interpreting, and representing information with graphs and charts, pictures, and words. Graphing activities should move from concrete to abstract, starting with three-dimensional graphs using beads on a string, stacking rings on dowel rods, or interlocking Unifix cubes to represent each unit of data (Charlesworth, 2005). Two-dimensional charts, wipe-off boards, or lines, paper squares or circles taped on the floor or wall can be used to represent many different kinds of information as children’s understanding grows.
Whitin and Whitin (2003) suggest developmentally appropriate guidelines for using graphs with young children, pointing out that they can:
- Tie to a social context (favorite story, group activities)
- Represent the same data set in multiple ways
- Lead to open-ended discussion questions
- Encourage children to name/title graphs
- Revisit data during/after discussions
- Model/demonstrate throughout process of data collection and creating graphs (p. 39).
Graphs should represent data meaningful to children, such as shoe colors, birthdays, tracking number of children present per day for a week, or preferences. Very simple graphs can be done with children as young as two or three. For example, Ms. Stephanie conducted a unit on babies with her older 2-year-old class, including sampling baby foods. She made a picture graph with the different jar labels across the top and each child put their fingerprint underneath the picture of the food he or she liked the best.
Graphs can be effectively used to represent the cycle of prediction, testing, and results in an investigation of any kind. For example, if you plan to plant seeds, children can predict how many days it will take for them to sprout and compare predictions with observations. Any activity with an either/or outcome, such as sinking/floating can be graphed in terms of predictions/ outcomes. Likewise, any unknown future activity can be graphed by possible outcomes children suggest. Suppose you are reading a new story with a problem to solve. Before getting to the end of the book, children can suggest several possible endings and then you can graph their preferences and compare with the actual ending.