What Are the Characteristics of the Typical Sixth Grader?
by: Joy Mitchell
May 22, 2009
For an end of the year unit project, the 6th grade math students conducted surveys to find characters of the typical 6th grader. In class, we had been working on data benchmarks, which include: mode, median, mean, maximum, minimum, range, and outliers. To help practice finding these benchmarks, we also used different types of graphs, they include: bar graphs (vertical & horizontal), line plots, coordinate graphs, and a stem and leaf plot.
Some of the survey questions include: favorite places to shop, favorite sports team, favorite color, number of siblings, length of shower time, number of pairs of shoes, and many more. Each group developed very different and unique questions, which allowed them to gather some numerical (number) and categorical (word) data. Once they finished with their surveys, groups were then responsible for organizing and deciding how to display their data. From their graphs, groups then decided which data benchmarks were applicable to their questions. Finally, students complied a written summary of their results, in which they had to use the 5-Step Writing process.
This was a great problem solving activity because groups had to work together and rely upon each other to get the job done. Overall, the results were very interesting and revealed some characteristics of the typical sixth grader. Talk to one of the sixth graders to find out more!
