|
1. Lesson Description
2. Classroom and Time Management
3. Materials and Teacher Preparation
4. Assessment
5. Technical Skills Guide
 1. Lesson Description
Period of time required for lesson:
8 days, 55 minutes each day.
Overall goal of the lesson:
The goal of this lesson is for students to create spreadsheets and essays exploring the underlying influences on population growth. Students will discover how ethnic composition, gender, and migration patterns impact the current population composition of a state. Students will use spreadsheets to analyze data and will write essays explaining their conclusions.
Rationale for the lesson:
This lesson is designed to address the fifth grade mathematics standard for statistics and data analysis, which states that students should be able to organize and display data in appropriate graphs and representations. In addition, it asks students to use fractions and percentages to compare data sets of different sizes.
The lesson also meets the language arts standard for writing, which states that students should be able to write clear, coherent, and focused essays that exhibit awareness of audience and purpose and that contain a formal introduction, supporting evidence, and conclusions.
Student academic outcome objectives:
| Students will be able to: |
| gather data about population patterns in a state and organize it systematically |
| calculate fractions, ratios, and percentages to analyze data |
| select the appropriate graph to adequately represent a given data set |
| analyze graphs and charts to make inferences, identify trends, and make predictions |
| create logical, well-organized expository text that contains an introduction, body of evidence, and conclusions about population trends and patterns in a state |
|
Student social outcome objectives:
| Students will be able to: |
| listen to each other |
| divide up their work |
| support each other in working at a computer |
|
Student technical skills outcome objectives:
| Students will be able to: |
| create a spreadsheet document |
| enter text in a cell and select it when needed |
| format text in a spreadsheet by changing fonts, size, and alignment within a cell |
| copy, move, and delete data |
| change column widths |
| enter formulas |
| calculate formula results |
| make a chart |
| change chart options such as labels, axis, and appearances, as well as resize and reposition graphs |
| print a specific range of cells |
|
Prerequisite Academic Skills:
| Students should know how to: |
| write a paragraph |
| create a chart or tally sheet to record data |
| convert fractions, decimals, and percents |
| select the appropriate graphical representation for a set of data |
|
Prerequisite Social Skills:
| Students should know how to: |
| assume different roles and work together in a collaborative setting |
| know how to ask relevant questions |
|
Prerequisite Technical Skills:
| Students should know how to: |
| enter text and direct the cursor |
| use spell check |
| navigate in a spreadsheet using the keyboard |
|
Back to Top
 2. Classroom and Time Management
Group Management:
Students will work in pairs, with each pair identifying data to collect, researching and organizing the data, and analyzing the results. Students then will write essays explaining their conclusions, and will have their partners proofread and edit their essays.
Technology Management:
|
| Students will be instructed in skills needed to be experts in one of two areas: inputting and formatting data, or using formulas and creating graphs |
| The instructor determines which student in each pair will be the expert in which skills
|
| One member of each pair will learn and practice expert skills while the other partner is working on collecting and organizing data |
| Once the expert skills have been taught, students will pair up with their partners to complete the project |
| Students will instruct their partners so that all students have the opportunity to learn the expert skills |
| Students will work on one computer to record, organize and graph the population statistics collected |
| Students will take turns inputting information |
| Students will work individually on their essays after data collection and analysis are complete |
| Students will print drafts of their essays for proofreading and editing with their partners |
|
Time Management:
|
Day |
Event |
| 1 |
Students are instructed to use the Internet and/or books to research present and past population composition of the states, including ethnic breakdown, gender, and migration patterns. Students form pairs, decide on states, and assign roles
|
| 2-3 |
Students research the states to find the information required for the project. The teacher plans times to instruct expert groups. Students set up spreadsheet format to record data
|
| 4-5 |
Students input data, format it, design formulas to analyze it, and prepare graphs to show results |
| 6 |
Students print tables and charts, discuss trends, make inferences, and identify patterns with their partner |
| 7-8 |
Students write essays explaining conclusions, print drafts, proofread and edit with partners, and complete final versions of their reports |
|
Back to Top
 3. Materials and Teacher Preparation
As included with the Technical Skills Guide.
Back to Top
 4. Assessment
Students will be graded on both their individual and group work.
Back to Top
 5.  Technical Skills Guide -StarOffice(zipped - 326 Kb)
Back to Top
|
