Mean, Median, Mode, Range (Math Make Up Blog- October 9)

I was absent on Friday, October 9 due to illness. During the math class that day the base group presented a lesson using bubbles focusing on measure the diameter of the bubbles, and the mean, median, and mode of the bubbles. I read through the lesson that they have posted on the D2L site and I found it to be very interesting and definitely inquiry based. I believe that it is very important to completley understand the meaning of mean, median and mode. Media often uses mean, median, and mode in reporting various facts and figures. Many times the media also portrays these figures in a bias ways to benefit themselves. It is important for students to understand the meanings of the math terms so that when they are reading through reports that may be represented to them they can critically think about what the data really means as opposed to taking the information presented to them at face values. Over the course of my education studying mean,median, and the mode has come up many times. We studied these math terms and practiced finding them over and over and over again through worksheets, homework, and tests. We never once explored these math terms and how they really worked or how they are used in the real world. I think for a true understanding students need to explore these math concepts and apply them to real situations.

After doing some searching I found two really cool math lesson involving these math concepts on the NCTM website.

The first lesson I found was titled a Mathematical Cornucopia of Pumpkins. This lesson was in Teaching Children Mathematics journal publish in September 2006. This lesson involves students using and exploring the concepts of mean, median, mode as well as mass, volume, circumference, and diameter. Students collect the data on the seed count and seed mass as well. After students collect the data they sort through it and try to create the understanding of the mathematical data by looking at the data as well as their actual pumpkins. It seems like this would a lesson that students would really enjoy exploring. It also seems appropriate for the time of year seeing a Halloween is only a few days away. This is definitely a lesson that I will consider using in my classroom and one that I have saved on my computer for future use.



The second lesson I found on the NCTM website is titled Generating Meaning for Range, Mode, Median and Mean. This lesson was published in the Teaching Children Mathematics journal in the November 2009 issue. This lesson involved students collecting data, thinking of ways that the data could be interpreted, introducing the mathematical concepts and then using real world examples. I really like this lesson because students are developing their own understanding for the mathematical concepts as they are exploring the data. They are not just given a definition to use to describe the concepts. They use the concepts and then learn the definition. I think that this is a great way to learn because students understand concepts differently and by letting students explore they are able to develop their own understanding to use.

The image above is the way in which I was taught how to use mean, median, mode and range. It can be a great real world example of how these concepts work. However, it can not be the only way we teach these important mathematical concepts to students if we want them to reach a true understanding.