Lauren Paz, Sarah Sell, Alyssa Dekany, Kate Godinez April 29, 2011

ELD 375- Teaching Mathematics K-5, Dr. Bulgar B.I.M.

Big Idea Module Reflection

  Graphing is an essential concept to understand and practice by all aged learners. Its high
effectiveness in recording and relaying data is significant for students to master through their
years of schooling as graphs manifest themselves regularly in the real world. To better help
students understand, produce and read graphs, we have designed activities that transition students
from a foundational standpoint of producing a graph and analyzing its components, to
interpreting more complex graphs while utilizing other mathematical skills and thinking to do so.
Beginning with a focus problem, students work their way through early elementary, middle
elementary, and upper elementary graph problems to gain the skills necessary for solving and
understanding it.
The focus problem of this Big Idea Module consists of a table of data that students must
then generate into a line graph. The concept of reading and interpreting data for graph
construction is activated in the lower, middle, and upper elementary problems. We feel that it is
essential that students are supplied with meaningful practice of collecting data, organizing it and
then, placing it into an appropriate style graph. Furthermore, the questions that follow will limit
the students to utilizing only the graph to solve so to practice reading graphs to answer questions.
Questions that involve graph studying include searching for most and least, comparing data,
assessing for quantitative amounts, and considering the whole graph to answer questions
concerning graph structures.  Many of these problems require other mathematical operations
making graph interpreting a two step process. First, students must read the graph to solve for
units of measurement but then manipulate this information with a numerical operation,
algorithm, etc. to solve for comparison or combination of data questions.  Higher levels of
thinking that are required for this problem begin with graph reading as well, but also involve
logic and advanced understanding of graph components. These concepts are unable to grasp
unless students have practiced such problems in early, middle, and upper elementary grades.
Therefore, the big ideas of graphing are elicited in this problem here as students produce graphs
and read them to receive information, develop mathematical logic, perform other mathematical
operations to compare information, develop an understanding of graph structure, and advance in
graphing terminology and operations through plotting and slope. Overall, the focus problem
encompasses a multitude of components that are studied and practiced in early, middle, and
upper elementary years. The goal is that through those years and the development of the
graphing concepts, students become equipped with the tools for their tool box to solve the focus
problem accurately and efficiently.
  For the lower elementary problems we wanted our questions to use critical thinking, as
well as helping our students understand how to plot, and interpret data. We used apple as a fun
way to graph, as well as giving the children a chance to color their own apple to graph.  We
designed this problem with their young age in mind, but also remembering previous knowledge
they should have. They should be familiar with a graph, being there are many kinds, and how to
manipulate numbers. We have asked students simple questions first such as “how many liked
Granny Smith?” which elicits lower order thinking. We then get into questions such as “how
many people liked Granny Smith and Golden Delicious?” which involved higher thinking, and
actually having to solve a problem. As per the standards, the students are using small numbers,
and using objects to help them solve the problems.   The students are using the graph as a whole
to help them solve each question, they need to refer to the apples, and use their previous
knowledge of addition and subtraction to help them solve the word problems.
               This problem elicits big ideas such as addition, subtraction, graphing, interpreting data,
and critical thinking. We ask questions such as “how do you know” which required the students
to explain themselves, and decipher how they arrived at the answer. This problem is a great
starting tool and flows right into the middle and upper elementary problems; it introduces
graphing, and word problems to analyze the graph. In the next few problems students will then
learn about the x and y axis, comparing graphs, and more difficult word problems. The students
in the lower elementary grades will be well prepared because of the graphing they have done,
interpreting the results, and answering simple one or two direction word problems. This problem
for grades K-1 ensures students understand how graphs work, and how to answer questions using
the graph and the data that they helped to graph.
  For the middle elementary problem, we created questions that mostly dealt with
interpreting the graph and being able to plot data on a graph. Once the graph was completed, the
students were asked numerous questions about the amounts of M&M’s, including the colors
there were the most of and the colors there was the least of.  There were also more difficult
questions that involved adding different data from the multiple graphs the students were asked to
plot.  These questions involve more previous knowledge to be known, and the standards indicate
that the students should be able to interpret graphs, and compare graphs.  We know that the
students know how to interpret the graphs because they were taught to do so in the early
elementary problem.  Without previous knowledge of interpreting data to answer questions the
students would not be able to complete the problem successfully.  The students are expected to
be able to solve one to two step problems involving larger numbers, and use critical thinking to
solve word problems involving more than one graph.   The standards also state that students
should be able to create bar graphs, which is included in this problem.  Once again we knew the
students had previous knowledge of how to create a graph because tin the apple activity the
students created a picture graph together.  In this activity the students will be asked to make their
own graph, their previous experience working with graphs will help them to be successful with
this.  Aside from comparing graphs and analyzing data the students will need to have prior
knowledge of least and most.   One of the questions in the activity asks the students to identify
which M&M color was there the least and most of.  Without completing the early elementary
problem the students would not have the proper knowledge to complete this activity.
  The M&M activity elicits many big ideas such as: graphing, interpreting data, comparing
graphs, addition and critical thinking.  The questions that accompany this problem ask the
students “how do you know.”  Asking the students to explain their thinking process encourages
critical thinking and a higher level of thinking.  For this problem the students will have to
compare several graphs, not only will they compare graphs but they will have to combine the
data from two different graphs.  At the end of the activity they will see if their data is equivalent
to what Mars claims to be in every bag of M&M’s.  The students will also have to use percents.
Using percents, graphing, comparing data and critical thinking will prepare the students for the
upper elementary problem.  All of the big ideas elicited in this problem will be helpful to the
students when they reach the focus problem because it combines all the different mathematical
skills that the students have learned in this and the previous activity.  
 The upper elementary problem has two parts.  The first is a picture of a pie graph.  The
students are asked to interpret the data from the pie graph and answer the questions.  Second the
students will take the pie graph and convert it into a bar graph.  They must also explain how they
converted the percents to numbers.  For this problem we wanted the students to use the different
mathematical skills that they have learned form the previous years.  The students must have prior
knowledge of graphs, how to read and interpret them and how to create graphs.   It also requires
the students to use critical thinking when answering the questions.  Although we asked the
students to answer simple questions such as “Of the people who took the survey, what pizza
topping do most people prefer?”  we also asked them how they knew this.  By doing this the
students must really think about how they found the answers to the questions and be able to
explain their findings and thinking process.  This activity is connected with the early and middle
elementary problems in several ways.  In the early elementary problem the students are taught
how to make a graph, collect data and analyze their data.  These are the same skills that the
students are required to use when solving this problem.  In the middle elementary problem the
students must collect the data first, graph it, interpret the data and compare different graphs.
Then they use their findings to answer questions that pertain to the problem.  These mathematical
skills are similar to the ones the students learned in the early elementary problem except they are
more enhanced and require the students to use use higher thinking.  Without completing the early
and middle elementary problems the students would not have the knowledge and necessary skills
to complete the tasks they are given for this activity.  
In the problem the students are asked to analyze, interpret, graph, and convert percents to
decimals.  This is all within the required standards for upper elementary school.  The students
must look at the pie graph and interpret the data in order to answer the questions.  They are also
asked to turn the pie graph into a bar graph requiring the students to convert their data to
represent it in a different way.  This problem elicits big ideas such as graphing, interpreting data,
critical thinking, and unit conversion.  Critical thinking is established through the questions,
when the students are asked “how do you know” they must really think about how they came to
their answer and be able to explain their thinking process.   The problem collectively uses all the
different big ideas that the previous tasks have elicited allowing the students to really put what
they learned to use.  This problem as well as the middle and upper elementary help set the
students up for the focus problem which combines the big ideas of all three problems.  
 Standards and Task Support
Early Elementary (K-1)

Standards:
Kindergarten
Counting and Cardinality K.CC
Count to tell the number of objects.
4. Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect
counting to cardinality.
a. When counting objects, say the number names in the standard
order, pairing each object with one and only one number name
and each number name with one and only one object.
5. Count to answer “how many?” questions about as many as 20 things
arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10
things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1–20, count
out that many objects.
Measurement and Data K.MD
Classify objects and count the number of objects in each category.
3. Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in
each category and sort the categories by count

First Grade
Measurement and Data 1.MD
Represent and interpret data
4. Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer
questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how
many more or less are in one category than in another.

Tasks’ relationship to standards:

The Standards relate to the task by ensuring students understanding of numbers through counting
objects, in this case the apples, and then comparing the number value by grouping items so that
students see the physical differences of greater than and less than. Furthermore, students
organize this data of the class’ favorite apple into a graph or three categories (three apples) to see
the varied levels of apples. Students then question what they see, are able to count, and overall
what can be interpreted from the graph they have constructed.

Middle Elementary (2-3)

Standards:
Second Grade
Measurement and Data 2.MD
Represent and interpret data
10. Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set
with up to four categories. Solve simple put together, take-apart, and compare problems
using information presented in a bar graph.
Third Grade
Measurement and Data 3.MD
Represent and interpret data
3. Draw a scaled picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set with several
categories. Solve one- and two-step “how many more” and “how many less” problems
using information presented in scaled bar graphs. For example, draw bar graph in which
each square in the bar graph might represent 5 pets

Tasks’ relationship to standards:

These questions involve previous knowledge and mastery of number values, basic addition and
subtraction, categorizing, and determining greater than and less than values. The difference
however, lies in the context of how the content is conveyed. Now, rather than instructing sorts
and value comparisons singularly, they have been applied to data that has been graphed and the
standards support this and encourages students to generate graphs and interpret them with this
understanding.

Upper Elementary (4-5)

Standards:
Fourth Grade
Measurement and Data 4.MD
Represent and interpret data
4. Make a line plot to display a data set of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, 1/4,
1/8). Solve problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions by using information
presented in line plots. For example, from a line plot find and interpret the difference in
length between the longest and shortest specimens in an insect collection

Fifth Grade
Number and Operations-Fractions 5.NF
Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to multiply and divide fractions.
4. Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction or
whole number by a fraction.
b. Find the area of a rectangle with fractional side lengths by tiling it
with unit squares of the appropriate unit fraction side lengths, and
show that the area is the same as would be found by multiplying
the side lengths. Multiply fractional side lengths to find areas of
rectangles, and represent fraction products as rectangular areas.
5. Interpret multiplication as scaling (resizing), by:
a. Comparing the size of a product to the size of one factor on
the basis of the size of the other factor, without performing the
indicated multiplication.
7. Apply and extend previous understandings of division to divide unit fractions by whole
numbers and whole numbers by unit fractions.
a. Interpret division of a unit fraction by a non-zero whole number.
Represent and interpret data. 5.MD
2. Make a line plot to display a data set of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, 1/4,
1/8). Use operations on fractions for this grade to solve problems involving information
presented in line plots.

Tasks relationship to standards:

These questions evoke students to utilize several mathematical ideas and strategies to solve.
According to the standards, students require previous knowledge and understanding of fractions
and their relationship to areas as students must determine in some questions the fractional part of
a designated portion of the pie graph or circle. Student still must be conscience in practicing their
graphing skills but in upper elementary with fractions and determining their placement on
graphs. Furthermore, in this stage, students should be able to write surveys and translate the data
into a graph, compare the information in graphs, and interpret them more analytical to begin
focusing on coordinate grids and plotting point as they are involved in the focus problem.