La vue d'ensemble

At a Glance...

The Guides for Effective Instruction in Mathematics Revised

FrançaisEnglish

D1.1 Identify situations involving one-variable data and situations involving two-variable data, and explain when each type of data is needed.

Activity 1: Variables and Data Types

Ask students to look at the graphs below and determine if they represent a situation involving one-variable or two-variable data.

Ask the following question:

Is the data quantitative or qualitative? Is it discrete or continuous data? Explain.

image The five bar graph is entitled "Eye Color in a Random Sample". The horizontal axis corresponds to the eye colour, while the vertical axis corresponds to the number of people, graduated from zero to 80. For brown, the bar rises to approximately 70. For green, the bar rises slightly above 20. For black, the bar rises slightly above 40. For blue, the bar stops slightly below 20. And for gray, the bar rises very slightly above 20. image The four horizontal bars graph is titled “Hours in Front of a Screen Per Day". The horizontal axis is scaled from zero to ten and corresponds to the hours spent in front of a screen per day, while the vertical axis is scaled from zero to fifteen. The horizontal bar at twelve stops between seven and eight. The bar at 13 stops at nine. The bar at 14 stops at seven. And the bar at 15 stops at six.

Activity 2: Variables and Data Types

Discuss the situations below to determine whether it involves one or two variables and whether the data is quantitative or qualitative, and discrete or continuous.

  • Relationship between school bus ride time and distance (km) from home to school (two variables and continuous quantitative data).
  • Grade 8 students' favourite pizza (one variable and qualitative data).
  • Possible relationship between time spent on social networks and academic performance (two variables and continuous quantitative data).
  • Frequency of public transportation use by age ranging between 18-20 year olds (one variable and discrete quantitative data).

Activity 3: Identifying the Situation

Ask students to describe a situation of their choice that involves a single variable and a situation that involves two variables. For one of the two situations, ask students to determine whether the data is quantitative or qualitative and discrete or continuous.