Data in Yr 3 with Fidget Spinners

Within the Australian Curriculum – Digital Technologies – the Achievement Standard for Year 3-4 contains this reference to data in the Content and Understanding area:

They collect, manipulate and interpret data, developing an understanding of the characteristics of data and their representation.

Within the Process and Production Skills – when making a digital solution they also:

….collect and manipulate different data when creating information and digital solutions.

Year 3 are preparing for their Assessment Task in Digital Technologies which is to create a digital solution which assists in an area of weakness for number facts.  As part of this work, they gather data on the performance of the class in different areas and analyse this data to determine the problem.

This week, as part of lead-in work on data gathering, analysis and representation, some of the children used their fidget spinners in groups to collect data about the length of time for the spinners to complete their spin.  Whilst doing this they discussed reliability of the data and whether there was human error impacting on the results and they then graphed the results after changing the times to a common unit.

It was a fantastic activity and the energy and engagement was great to see!