Course Guide - USAID Teacher Education Project

However, when working with numerical data, it is crucial for youngsters to order theirnumbers in frequency tables. This will allow them to begin seeing the "shape of thedata" as it would look in a line plot or on a bar graph.b) Youngsters may think that a frequency table can only be created with singlenumbers such as the “scores” in the table on the left. However, sometimes (especiallywith large data sets) it is necessary to organize the data in consistent intervals, as inthe table on the right.c) When considering the range of data, youngsters tend to say the data "range from a(the lowest value) to b (the greatest value)." While this is an acceptable way todescribe the range, youngsters need to know that there is another way to describe it:(b - a).d) When considering the mode, a clear data display allows youngsters to have avisual model of the highest value. Confusion occurs, however, when a display of thedata set has two "peaks" of the same height. Youngsters need to be assured that therecan be more than one mode in a data set.