Graphing Project
Due: October 24, 2011
A Typical 6th Grade Blue Student
As a team, we are going to conduct an investigation to determine the characteristics of a typical student in the 6th grade.
Getting Started
Designing the Questions: You will develop two clear questions to help us learn about the “typical” student in 6th grade. One question will gather qualitative data and the other will gather quantitative data. (To determine if the data is qualitative or quantitative, ask yourself, “Can I calculate the mean of the data?” If you can, it is quantitative data.) Create 5-7 choices for each question that students will choose from. Depending on the type of question, you may need to include an “other” category for students that don’t fit the choices you have offered.
Examples:
Qualitative data:
What is your favorite hard ice cream flavor?
Chocolate
Vanilla
Strawberry
Chocolate Chip
Coffee
Oreo
Other
Quantitative data:
Which dollar amount is closest to the amount of money you spend on candy and gum per week?
$0
$1
$2
$3
$4
$5
$6
Gathering Data: You will create a neat and organized chart to gather the data for each question. During ASB, you will survey between 35-40 students from the 6th grade for each question. Gather the data using tally marks. You will include a final copy of the chart in your final presentation.
Analyzing the Data
You will begin to organize the data you have gathered.
Interpreting the results
After you analyze your data, begin to summarize your findings. Please write a short summary (one well-written paragraph) that includes the following:
-the original survey questions
-How many people were surveyed for each question?
-For the quantitative data, find the range, mean, median and mode.
-Wrap up the paragraph by writing concluding statements about how your data helps us better understand the typical student on our 6th grade team. In other words, which data occurred most often? This may be typed or neatly written on white lined paper.
Displaying the Results
Create a poster to display all of your findings. This is where you will include final displays/graphs for your data as well as your summary. In bold letters, state the survey questions you asked. Remember to add color, check for labels and titles, be neat and put your name on the front of your poster.
Creating Graphs and Charts Using Microsoft Excel
Choose one set of data to start with.
Football 17
Soccer 2
Baseball 6
Swimming 1
Hockey 8
Golf 4
So, for example, the word “football” will go in Row 2 Column A.
4. Save the data you just typed in to your personal file (“copper”).
You will now create three different graphs for the set of data. First you will create a bar graph, second you will create a pie chart (or circle graph) and finally you will create a frequency chart.
5. Highlight only the cells that you have filled in. To highlight, left click beginning in the top left cell and hold it down and across to highlight all boxes that have been filled in.
6. Click on Chart Wizard from the tool bar. (It looks like a bar graph.) If you hover over the icons on the tool bar, you will see the words “Chart Wizard”.
7. Choose the Column Bar Graph.
Press Next.
Press Next again.
You should now see a tab “Titles”. Click on “Titles” and enter your title for the graph.
Ex) Favorite Sport to Play
You also need to create labels for the “Category” x-axis (ex-Sports) and “Value” y-axis (ex-# of students).
Press Next.
Choose the option “As New Sheet”.
Press Finish.
8. Click on any one of the bars and then remove the color by going to the paint can. (Located on the top right of the tool bar.) Click on white to eliminate any color from the bars. You will color the bars after the graph has been printed.
9. Click on File and pull down the menu. Choose “Save as”. You will now name the bar graph and save it to your “copper” file. Check to make sure your graph is properly labeled and reflects the data you gathered. Click on File again and print your bar graph.
You will now create your pie chart (circle graph).
10. Click on Chart Wizard again.
11. Choose Pie. Press next. Press next again. You will see the title of the graph which is the same as the bar graph.
12. Click on the Data Labels tab. Check off the box next to Percentages. Press next.
13. Click on File and pull down the menu. Choose “Save as” and save the graph to your “copper” file. Check to make sure your graph is properly labeled and reflects the data you gathered. Click on File again and print your circle graph.
14. You have just created your bar graph and circle graph. Go pick them up from the printer.
You will now create your frequency chart. (Note: You will have to put your tally marks in with a pencil after the chart has been printed.)
15. Along the bottom of the screen, click on Sheet 1 tab. You will see your data on the excel spreadsheet. Highlight the data column and using “Edit” “Cut”, you will move the data over one column and then “Edit” “Paste” the data. Label the middle column “Tally”. Change the label of the third column to Frequency.
Sport Tally Frequency
Football 17
Soccer 2
Baseball 6
Swimming 1
Hockey 8
Golf 4
Click on File and pull down the menu. Choose “Save as” and save the chart to your “copper” file.
16. Highlight the three-column chart that you have just created. Click on File and pull down the menu. Choose Print Preview. Choose the “Set up” button. Under “scaling” adjust to 150% to make the chart bigger when it is printed. Press ok. Click on the “set up” button again. Choose the “Sheet” tab. Check the box next to gridlines. Press ok. Click Print. Press ok.
17. You have just created your Frequency Chart. You will need to fill in the tally marks with a pencil.
18. For the second set of data, follow the same steps on a new excel spreadsheet.
As a team, we are going to conduct an investigation to determine the characteristics of a typical student in the 6th grade.
Getting Started
Designing the Questions: You will develop two clear questions to help us learn about the “typical” student in 6th grade. One question will gather qualitative data and the other will gather quantitative data. (To determine if the data is qualitative or quantitative, ask yourself, “Can I calculate the mean of the data?” If you can, it is quantitative data.) Create 5-7 choices for each question that students will choose from. Depending on the type of question, you may need to include an “other” category for students that don’t fit the choices you have offered.
Examples:
Qualitative data:
What is your favorite hard ice cream flavor?
Chocolate
Vanilla
Strawberry
Chocolate Chip
Coffee
Oreo
Other
Quantitative data:
Which dollar amount is closest to the amount of money you spend on candy and gum per week?
$0
$1
$2
$3
$4
$5
$6
Gathering Data: You will create a neat and organized chart to gather the data for each question. During ASB, you will survey between 35-40 students from the 6th grade for each question. Gather the data using tally marks. You will include a final copy of the chart in your final presentation.
Analyzing the Data
You will begin to organize the data you have gathered.
- Create a frequency chart for each of the sets of data. This should include a column with the tally marks as well.
- Create a circle graph on the computer for each set of data. Be sure to include a key and label each of the parts with the percentage.
- Create a bar graph on the computer for each set of data.
Interpreting the results
After you analyze your data, begin to summarize your findings. Please write a short summary (one well-written paragraph) that includes the following:
-the original survey questions
-How many people were surveyed for each question?
-For the quantitative data, find the range, mean, median and mode.
-Wrap up the paragraph by writing concluding statements about how your data helps us better understand the typical student on our 6th grade team. In other words, which data occurred most often? This may be typed or neatly written on white lined paper.
Displaying the Results
Create a poster to display all of your findings. This is where you will include final displays/graphs for your data as well as your summary. In bold letters, state the survey questions you asked. Remember to add color, check for labels and titles, be neat and put your name on the front of your poster.
Creating Graphs and Charts Using Microsoft Excel
Choose one set of data to start with.
- Open Microsoft Office and then open Microsoft Excel
- You will start by entering the data you gathered for one of the survey questions. On the spreadsheet, pick one word to describe each column. Fill in the cell next to the number 1 and below A with the first word. Press the “Tab” key after you fill in each cell. The second word will go under B. Ex) Sport / Data
- Fill in each of the columns with the appropriate information/data. Do not leave any blank cells. (Each box is considered a cell.)
Football 17
Soccer 2
Baseball 6
Swimming 1
Hockey 8
Golf 4
So, for example, the word “football” will go in Row 2 Column A.
4. Save the data you just typed in to your personal file (“copper”).
You will now create three different graphs for the set of data. First you will create a bar graph, second you will create a pie chart (or circle graph) and finally you will create a frequency chart.
5. Highlight only the cells that you have filled in. To highlight, left click beginning in the top left cell and hold it down and across to highlight all boxes that have been filled in.
6. Click on Chart Wizard from the tool bar. (It looks like a bar graph.) If you hover over the icons on the tool bar, you will see the words “Chart Wizard”.
7. Choose the Column Bar Graph.
Press Next.
Press Next again.
You should now see a tab “Titles”. Click on “Titles” and enter your title for the graph.
Ex) Favorite Sport to Play
You also need to create labels for the “Category” x-axis (ex-Sports) and “Value” y-axis (ex-# of students).
Press Next.
Choose the option “As New Sheet”.
Press Finish.
8. Click on any one of the bars and then remove the color by going to the paint can. (Located on the top right of the tool bar.) Click on white to eliminate any color from the bars. You will color the bars after the graph has been printed.
9. Click on File and pull down the menu. Choose “Save as”. You will now name the bar graph and save it to your “copper” file. Check to make sure your graph is properly labeled and reflects the data you gathered. Click on File again and print your bar graph.
You will now create your pie chart (circle graph).
10. Click on Chart Wizard again.
11. Choose Pie. Press next. Press next again. You will see the title of the graph which is the same as the bar graph.
12. Click on the Data Labels tab. Check off the box next to Percentages. Press next.
13. Click on File and pull down the menu. Choose “Save as” and save the graph to your “copper” file. Check to make sure your graph is properly labeled and reflects the data you gathered. Click on File again and print your circle graph.
14. You have just created your bar graph and circle graph. Go pick them up from the printer.
You will now create your frequency chart. (Note: You will have to put your tally marks in with a pencil after the chart has been printed.)
15. Along the bottom of the screen, click on Sheet 1 tab. You will see your data on the excel spreadsheet. Highlight the data column and using “Edit” “Cut”, you will move the data over one column and then “Edit” “Paste” the data. Label the middle column “Tally”. Change the label of the third column to Frequency.
Sport Tally Frequency
Football 17
Soccer 2
Baseball 6
Swimming 1
Hockey 8
Golf 4
Click on File and pull down the menu. Choose “Save as” and save the chart to your “copper” file.
16. Highlight the three-column chart that you have just created. Click on File and pull down the menu. Choose Print Preview. Choose the “Set up” button. Under “scaling” adjust to 150% to make the chart bigger when it is printed. Press ok. Click on the “set up” button again. Choose the “Sheet” tab. Check the box next to gridlines. Press ok. Click Print. Press ok.
17. You have just created your Frequency Chart. You will need to fill in the tally marks with a pencil.
18. For the second set of data, follow the same steps on a new excel spreadsheet.