Number of Pockets Data

What are some important features of what’s happening in this classroom?

The students in the video are active participates of collecting the data. They have each counted how many pockets they have and watch as their teacher records it on a line plot.

What did you notice?

Many of the students are unaware of what the x’s represent and what the numbers represent. I think that maybe if the teacher would have used a picture to show the pockets and record the students names above the number of pockets that they have the may have been able to interpret the data better. This would have given them more practice with graphs and prepared them for more symbolic use of x’s and numbers on graphs later.

What struck you about the students’ thinking?

They were determining the correct responses, but they were having to focus so much on what the x’s and numbers represented that they were getting confused.

What struck you about the teachers’ moves?

I think the way that she was having them repeat each other to see if the students had an understanding of what their classmates were saying. She was giving them time to develop their own conclusions and not just telling them the answer before they had time to think.

As you think about each of these, what’s they idea the students are working on?

They are working on collecting and interpreting data. They are working to determine facts about a given set of data. They are learning to use the data that they have collected to determine facts about a group of people.