Section 4

Case Study 1

On the first school based day some questions for children were prepared from material given in the course.  These questions form the basis of the investigation and case study.

What do pupils know?

What do they understand about Data Handling?

Have they done any work on the computer involving tables and graphs?

When they did this work did they do this in  maths lessons?

Have they used a program on the computer about Data Handling?

Can they remember the name of the program?

Can they tell me something about the program?

Can they  find it on the computer?

What can pupils do?

Could they collect their data?

Can they load up a Data Handling program ready to use?

Can they input data into the program?

How would they do this?

Can they sort the information?

Can they search the information?

Can they display graphical information?

Can they interpret this graphical information.

I decided to choose a group of children to work with me directly during this day.  In order to try to give a fair representation of pupils in the school I decided on two children from each Key Stage 2 class and two children from Year 2 in Key Stage 1.  The children selected were of average ability in each class and displayed an enthusiasm to take part.  With the co-operation of class teachers I was then able to work in the library together without interruptions.

The children were told that they would be working together to find out some information and use a computer to answer some questions about this information that they have collected.

The first session was spent talking with the children and asking them some questions.

What do you understand about Data Handling?

Adam (Y6) - “We do that in maths, it’s about asking questions and drawing graphs”

Kirsty (Y5) - “Is this all about finding out who is the tallest in our class, or how many people have blue eyes?

Billy (Y3) -   “We did something like that last year but we asked about favourite flowers, then we made some graphs and put them on the window”

(the other children did not know)

Have you done any work on the computer involving graphs and tables?

Adam(Y6) -           “Yes, we did a little bit but it takes ages before you get a turn on the computer”

Kirsty(Y5) - “We did some last year but we haven’t done anything this year, we drew some graphs in our books though”

Jessica (Y2) -        “We went round asking about how old people are, we put it in our book then went on the computer”

Jack (Y2) - “Yes I went on the computer with my partner”

Rachel(Y3) -          “Yes, we learned about healthy food and I printed a table and graph”

When you did this work was it in maths lessons?

Rachel (Y3)-“No, I did it in science”

all others said it done in maths lessons.

Have you used a program on the computer using Data Handling?

All the children said yes, they had used a Data Handling program at sometime.

Can you remember the name of the program that you used?

Adam (Y6)- “We used Junior Pinpoint, but it was hard, it kept going wrong”

Kirsty (Y5)- “I can’t remember what we used”

Billy (Y3)- “I think we used First Workshop”

Jack (Y2)- “Oh yes! We used that as well”

Can you tell me a bit about the program?

Adam (Y6)- “Well first we had to print out some sheets to collect our information then we worked in groups to type it into the computer to make a list. Then we made different graphs and printed them out.  It took a long time and when the next group came on they had to rub it off and start all over again”

Billy (Y3)- “We all took turns on the computer to type in our work and then the teacher showed us all how to get graphs and answer questions”

Can you find the Data Handling Program on the computer?

The children demonstrated this on a computer, all the children went to the “Handling Data” Icon and found the program they have used.

The second session involved practical work.  I asked the children to decide on some data that they would like to collect from one of the classes.  After a discussion with the children it was decided that they should collect some data about the Height and Weight of the children in that class.  They also decided to ask a question as well; “What would you like the most for your dinner?”

The children then set about collecting their data.  Children in  (Y3/4) were asked to come into the library, the children were weighed, measured and answers to the question recorded.  (Unfortunately, the only scales available measured weight in stones) This exercise was led by Y5 and Y6 children and was very well organised, data was collected quickly and efficiently.

The children first of all recorded their results separately as lists on pieces of paper, then the children came together and collected all their results together to make a table:

Information collected from children

Completed graph of the food we eat

Before asking the children to display graphs, I first set them some tasks in sorting and searching the information. 

Could they show me how to sort the information into increasing height? 

None of the children were able to do this without some help and explanation, but they were soon able to grasp this once they had tried it for themselves.

Again, the children were unable to exercise a simple search on the information without help and guidance from myself. Soon they were able to do simple searches by themselves.

With the older children (Y5/6) I asked them to try searches with more difficult operators, including logic functions.  The children found this quite difficult and abstract.

When displaying graphs the children seemed very keen to produce “a picture” unfortunately, they were not trying to use graphical information to answer any particular question or gather any specific information.  At this point I stopped the activity and took the children away from the computer to ask them to decide on what graphs to produce and what information they would like to find out.

I suggested to the younger children that they produce a bar chart involving food, and prompted them through using the software.  When the bar chart was displayed I asked the children questions.

“How many children liked pizza for their dinner?”

“How many children chose chicken?”

“Was their anyone with an unusual taste?”

The younger children responded well to these types of question and were able to give reasonable answers.

Material based on work by MEDU in Manchester University and tasks presented by the Bolton Curriculum I.C.T. Centre gives a good indication of possible progression in questions involving  Information Handling. (Appendix 2)

With this in mind, I asked the older children to try to make up a question that they could use to form an investigation in patterns, trends or making a hypothesis.

“We could see if people who are tall are also heavy” suggested Adam.

“What kind of graph would you have to use to give you this information” I replied.

The children were now stuck, when they tried to produce a graph with the two fields that they required (weight, height) they realised that it could not be done as a bar chart.

I asked them to try a scattergram…would this work?

Yes, a scattergram graph was produced as shown:

I asked if the graph indicated a relationship between height and weight of children, they had some experience of scattergrams, but they had difficulty interpreting the results.  I then drew a best fit straight line on the graph explaining to the children what it’s purpose was, but I found that they had little understanding of this and how to use the graph.

Summary of Findings

Children demonstrated a good understanding in collecting data and inputting their data into a Data Handling Software Package.

The children observed in this case study only show a basic understanding of graphs and block Charts and their uses.

The children had difficulty extracting information, recognising patterns or trends and using this for a purpose.

Their capability in Data Handling seems maths based, children frequently referred their experience to maths lessons (“In maths we did …..”)

Difficulty searching information using more than one attribute.