| Subject
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Science
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| Activity Name
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Variation of human characteristics
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| Learning Objectives
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- For students to understand that there is a variation in some human characteristics
- For students to collect, present, visualise and analyse variation data for themselves and the class
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| Outline of activity
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- Students measure various quantities (including but not limited to; arm length, height, hand span) and then analyse this data to look for patters of distribution amongst the class.
- The spreadsheet allows graphs showing the data to be drawn instantaneously as the data is inputted helping student visualise the variation/distribution of the data within the class.
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| Technology requirements and skills
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Computer with spreadsheet software and template file (File:Class+Data+Set.ods).
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| Equipment requirements
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- Rulers or measuring tapes. For height and other length measurements if tapes/rulers are limited then a single measuring station (for example marked on wall) could be used for the whole class.
- Mini white boards could be used to engage class predictions of possible distributions (most common length, highest value, lowest value, etc)
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| Possible extension or supplementary activities
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- Data sets for other classes (or indeed the whole school) could be collected and students could see if the patterns/distributions seen in one class were
- Calculators could be used to work our averages and other data analysis as an alternative, see moving stones activity for examples
Some students may analyse the data further, calculating the mean, mode, median of the data set (see counting stones activity for more suggestions and instructions).
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| Suggestions of what ‘successful’ student understanding or work might look like
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- Students will be confident collecting and handling data sets
- Students will be familiar with the idea that certain human characteristics have a range (and distribution) distribution of values within a group
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