Data Handling refers to the process of gathering, recording and presenting information in a way that is helpful to others - for instance, in graphs or charts.

Data Handling is also sometimes known as statistics and you will often come across it in the study of both Maths and Science.

Data handling is a set of skills, which includes:

• Collecting data using a planned methodology
• Recording data with precision and accuracy
• Analysing data to draw conclusions
• Sharing data in a way which is useful to others

Examples of data handling include in the classroom include:

• Creating a tally chart of what colour hair people in the class have
• Drawing a pie chart to show how many boys and girls there are in a class
• Making a bar chart to show different people’s favourite ice creams
• Finding the mean, mode and median of a data set of test scores

When interpreting the graphs this week, children may be asked to find the mean, mode, median or range? To understand these terms more, look at the image below. 
 

Monday - Bar Charts 

A bar chart is a way of representing data in a graph using bars of varying height. Information is collected and shown in a table and then the bar chart is drawn. They are a good way to show relative sizes, for example in the bar chart below you can tell quickly by looking at the heights of the bars which fruit is seen as the nicest and which fruit is seen as the least nicest. 

Use the bar charts above to r child some questions, for example which fruit is the most popular? Which fruit is the least popular? How many people like kiwi fruit? How many more people like apples than grapes? 
 

To explore bar charts further click on the link below 

https://www.theschoolrun.com/what-is-a-bar-chart

Tuesday - Pie Charts 

Pie charts are circular charts divided up into segments which each represent a value. Pie charts are divided into sections (or 'slices') to represent values of different sizes. 

Pie charts often label each segment with a percentage, so it is vital that children understand percentages before they can properly interpret pie charts. For example: in the pie chart below 20 children were asked what their favourite type of movie was.
 

If 4 children like comedy they would be working out what percentage 4 was of the total number of children surveyed which was 20. You can work this out by using fraction knowledge: 4/20 in its lowest form is 1/5, to find 1/5 of 20, divide 20 by 5 which gives you the answer 4, so the answer is 20%.

To explore pie charts in more detail, click on the link below and watch the clip.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/maths-ks2-pie-and-pie-again-pie-charts/zbbhf4j
 

Wednesday - Line Graphs 

A line graph is used to display information which changes over time. It is plotted on a graph as a series of points joined with straight lines. Examples of where we use line graphs would be measuring weight, plotting the depreciation in the value of something over time or recording daily temperatures.

Click on the link below and scroll down to the line graph showing the temperature in New York.  Beneath it you will see example questions that you can ask relating to line graphs. 
 

https://www.mathgoodies.com/lessons/graphs/line

Thursday- Decision Trees 

A decision tree is a flowchart-like structure in which each questions are asked that have two possible outcomes, yes or no. A branch represents the outcome of the test, there then will be a further question with another set of outcomes. Decision trees can have as many questions as necessary to sort a set of data. Look at the example below for sorting 2D shapes.

 The decision tree starts off with a simple question asking are there more than 3 sides. In order to sort the shapes, an additional two questions are asked. Compare this to the tree diagram used to sort the animals below.

This set of data required more questions in order to sort them accurately.

Can you think of any other data sets you would sort using a decision tree?

Friday - Consolidation of Learning & Friday Test

Consolidation Task

For our consolidation task this week, children are asked to create a graph of their choosing from the graphs we have been learning about this week. Examples might be a line graph showing the forecast temperatures for next week, a bar chart showing the contents of the fridge, a pie chart showing the favourite tv genres in the house. Children must draw their graph accurately, ensuring they have recorded the data in a table and then drawn the graph to represent the table. Children should write a minimum of 5 statements about their graph, e.g. 40% of the fridge was dairy contents, the most reoccurring item in the fridge was fruit, 1/10 of the fridge was meat.

Friday Test

This week's times table focus was x4. Ask your child their x4 tables in a random order ensuring you cover all times tables from 0 x 4 to 12 x 4.