| Subject
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Science
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| Activity Name
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Variation of human characteristics
|
| 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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