Quick Questions

Goal: Learn about the range of people in the group

1. Answer a question about yourself

Pose a question that children can answer with a number:

• What time did you go to bed last night?

• How many TVs do you have at home?

     
Or with a multiple-choice answer:

• Which do you most like to play: jump-rope, soccer, or softball?

• What month were you born?

Write the question on chart paper.

Children write their answers on the chart paper or use checkmarks.

 

2. Explain the answers

Ask children to look over the answers and say what they notice.

What’s the most common answer? The least common?
What’s the lowest number? The highest number?

To help children see patterns, ask them to organize the answers by putting them in order or grouping them.

Bedtime last night

Variations

Predict the Answer (Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Before anyone answers, children predict results: the most common answer, and if numbers are involved, the lowest and highest number. Later, they compare predictions with results.

Ask Someone Else (Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Children predict whether they would get different answers if they asked the same question of a different group. If they asked younger children (or adults) about bedtimes, would they get the same answers? Why or why not? What if they asked about birth month? Try it.

 

Human Graph (Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
If the answers to the question are numbers, children line up from lowest to highest number. If it’s a multiple-choice question, they make a human “bar graph”—everyone with the same answer stands together.

 

Books and Other Resources

Time for Kids Almanac 2008 (Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Time for Kids. NY: Time for Kids. 2006.

The All-New Bok of Lists for Kids (Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 2002.

Note: Similar activities are in Russell, S.J., Tierney, C., Mokros, J. and Economopoulos, K. Investigations in Number, Data, and Space. Glenview, IL: Pearson Scott Foresman, 2004. 

Spotlight

Statistics, range and mode

As children analyze responses to a Quick Question, they work with two statistical measures: range and mode. 

Organizing numerical data from lowest to highest shows the range. Grouping data into categories reveals the most common response, or mode.

Connections

Looking critically at data

People can better evaluate information they come across in everyday life if they understand data features such as typical answers, highest and lowest values, and range. For instance, an advertiser might claim that in a recent survey, most marathon runners preferred a certain brand of sneakers. To evaluate this claim, consumers need more information: In the survey, were runners allowed to name any brand, or were they given a choice between just two? How many more chose one brand over the other?

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©2008 TERC, Cambridge, MA. All rights reserved.