Example 9
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Example 9
Example 9
2. Assessment of students’ performance in the project should not focus only on the product (the written report). Their attitude towards the project, their participation, etc.
should also be considered (see point 5 below for the suggested assessment criteria).
3. Part of the project can be done at home and students should be given adequate time for discussion and preparation of the project.
4. The teacher should give students suggestions on the time schedule for the project and tell them the deadline for completing their work.
5. Suggested criteria for assessing students’ performances:
Criteria Description of the Criteria
Understanding the theme of the project
Do students demonstrate a thorough understanding of the theme of the project?
Do students know how to carry out the project and what information they are expected to collect?
Use of strategies and methods Are proper methods of data collection designed and relevant information collected?
Do students use appropriate statistical charts to represent the data collected?
Do students analyse and compare data?
Accuracy Do students construct statistical charts accurately?
Do students analyse the statistical chart accurately?
Do students make feasible recommendations based on their analysis?
Presentation and communication
Can students present their work in a systematic and logical way?
Do students report their work accurately?
Attitude Do students exercise a good team spirit?
Are students actively involved in the activities?
Have students reviewed their work in a timely manner?
The criteria suggested are by no way exhaustive and each criterion above may have different weightings.
Example 9
147
This example mainly involves the following generic skills:
1. Collaboration Skills
Collaborate in groups and share responsibilities, understand the roles of individual members in collecting data, preparing statistical charts and presenting the project results
Share ideas freely with others in conducting the project
Discuss, negotiate and compromise with others in designing methods for collecting data and presenting the results of the project
Share ideas in making recommendations on extra-curricular activities at school
2. Communication Skills
Use suitable means to collect information
Discuss with group members during the group activities
Report to the class and discuss with classmates and teacher during reporting
3. Critical Thinking Skills
Read and discuss charts, and find out the important or critical parts
Draw logical conclusions and make feasible and logical recommendations based on the information collected
Example 10
Example 10 Four Seasons
Key Stage: 2
Strand:
Mathematics: Data Handling (Learning Unit: Broken line graphs)
General Studies: People and Environment (Learning Objective: to identify and describe climate and seasonal changes and their effects)
Objectives: (i) To read and discuss broken line graphs (ii) To construct broken line graphs
(iii) To recognise the temperature change in the four seasons (In collaborate with General Studies)
Prerequisite Knowledge: (i) Finding the average of a group of data
(ii) Interpreting and constructing bar charts of greater frequency counts
Resources Required: World maps, globes and computers Related Links: Hong Kong Observatory: http://www.hko.gov.hk
Bureau of Meteorology, Australia: http://www.bom.gov.au
Description of the Activity:
Activity 1
The teacher asks students to record the daily temperature of 7 days in a week. It is not necessary to guide the students to record the data in any means or in any forms. Students may collect the data from various sources, e.g. thermometer and weather report. One week later, the teacher discusses with students the data collected.
Questions for discussion:
1. Why are the data collected by different students on each day different?
2. If the temperature of one day is selected to represent that of the week, which day should be selected?
Example 10
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Notes for Teachers:
1. The teacher may guide students to account for the difference. For example, the temperature varies within a day and the readings taken at different time of a day are not the same. Measuring the temperature at different places or by different instruments may also lead to inconsistent results. Students are guided to conclude that some conditions or criteria are necessary to be set in data collection.
2. By using the result in the discussion, the teacher may introduce that different regions use maximum temperature, minimum temperature or average temperature for describing the temperature of a particular period of time. The following links can be referred to:
Climatological Information Services (Hong Kong Observatory):
http://www.weather.gov.hk/cis/climat_e.htm
Climate statistics for Australian location (Bureau of Meteorology, Australia):
http://www.bom.gov.au (follow the path Bureau Home > Climate > Climate Data Online)
3. Through discussion, the teacher can introduce the use of the average of a group of data to represent the group in daily life situations.
Activity 2
According to the results in Activity 1, the teacher guides the students to agree with a scheme for measuring temperature. Students will measure the temperature of 7 days in another week in accordance with the scheme.
Questions for discussion:
1. Are the temperatures measured at one or some particular times each day? If so, which times are the most appropriate?
2. If the temperatures are measured at different time of a day, is the maximum temperature or minimum temperature selected to be the target data for recording?
How can you collect the data for the maximum temperature or minimum temperature?
Notes for Teachers:
To arouse students’ interest, the teacher can refer students to the following webpage and introduce conventional instruments installed at an Automatic Weather Station in Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Observatory:
http://www.hko.gov.hk/education/article_e.htm?title=ele_00454
Example 10
Activity 3
1. The teacherintroduces and discusses with students the temperature information available on the Internet, e.g. the monthly mean of maximum daily temperature of Hong Kong available on the webpage of the Hong Kong Observatory.
2. The students collect temperature information from the webpage of the Hong Kong Observatory and the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia.
3. The students construct broken line graphs using Excel under the teacher’s guidance.
4. There can be a discussion on the points to note in the construction of broken line graphs using Excel.
5. The students read and discuss the characteristics of the broken line graphs.
6. The teacher shows the broken line graphs constructed with the use of the temperature information of the two places, and guides the students to compare and find the
difference. Students can explore the reason to account for the phenomenon.
Questions for discussion:
1. When is summer and winter in Hong Kong?
2. When is summer and winter in Australia?
3. Ying Ying’s grandma lives in Australia. If Ying Ying is going to visit her during Christmas holidays, should Ying Ying wear winter clothes or summer clothes?
4. Describe the changes of temperature in the two places. Why is there such a difference?
Notes for Teachers:
1. When students construct broken line graphs using Excel, the teacher should guide them to use an appropriate graph.
2. When students have finished their construction, they should be reminded to check if the graph has provided adequate information, such as the title and labels for the two axes, etc.
3. For the ease of teacher’s preparation, two sets of temperature data of Hong Kong and Perth, Australia are included in the Information Sheet.
4. The teacher may use the monthly mean of daily maximum/minimum temperature of two places for comparison.
5. If necessary, data from places other than Hong Kong and Australia can be used to construct broken line graphs. They can be used as reference to support students’
conclusion.
Example 10
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Integration and Application:
Science Education: Revolution of the Earth around the Sun Technology Education: Construction of statistical graphs by IT Mathematics Education: Data collection and handling
This example mainly involves the following generic skills:
1. Creativity
Design their own scheme in recording the daily temperature.
2. Critical Thinking Skills
Explore reasons which account for the difference in daily temperatures recorded by different classmates and the difference in seasonal temperature variations between Hong Kong and Australia, and justify the reasons.
3. Information Technology Skills
Use a spreadsheet program to construct statistical charts.
Example 10
Information Sheet
Monthly mean of daily maximum, mean and minimum temperature recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory and Bureau of Meteorology, Australia between 1981-2010＊
Hong Kong
Mean Daily Maximum
(°C)
Mean Daily Minimum
(°C)
Perth, Australia#
Mean Daily Maximum
(°C)
Mean Daily Minimum
(°C)
January 18.6 14.5 January 31.9 17.3
February 18.9 15.0 February 32.1 17.6
March 21.4 17.2 March 29.9 16.2
April 25.0 20.8 April 26.1 13.4
May 28.4 24.1 May 22.2 10.9
June 30.2 26.2 June 19.2 9.0
July 31.4 26.8 July 18.1 8.1
August 31.1 26.6 August 18.7 8.2
September 30.1 25.8 September 20.4 9.3
October 27.8 23.7 October 22.9 10.5
November 24.1 19.8 November 26.5 13.3
December 20.2 15.9 December 29.2 15.2
Note:
The sources of two sets of data are the Hong Kong Observatory (http://www.weather.gov.hk) and the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (http://www.bom.gov.au)
To make the data comparable and more reliable, data of thirty years (1981 – 2010) of two places are extracted.
# Perth is chosen from Australia as it lies in the same time zone as Hong Kong.
Example 11
153
Example 11
Investigating Errors of Measurements by GPS Tracking Apps
Key Stage: 3
Mathematics Education
Strand: Measures, Shape and Space
(Learning Unit: Error in measurement) Technology Education
Knowledge Contexts: Information and Communication Technology (Module: Computer systems)
Objectives: (i) To consolidate the concept of error in measurement (ii) To understand and apply ICT as a prime tool for
learning and in our daily life Prerequisite Knowledge: (i) Calculate different types of errors
(ii) Use rate, ratio and proportion to solve real-life problems
Resources Required: Scaled floor plans of the school playground, trundle wheels, and tablet computers with GPS tracking apps installed
Example 11
Description of the Activity:
1. The teacher introduces the activity to students and revises the concepts of ratio and proportion.
2. The teacher gives each student a scaled floor plan of the school playground.
3. Students, working in groups, measure the dimensions of the playground on the floor plan and calculate the actual dimensions of the playground in consideration of the scale ratio of the floor plan.
4. Students discuss how to verify the answer found in (3).
5. Students use trundle wheels and GPS tracking apps at the same time to measure the dimensions of the playground.
6. Students compare the results obtained in (3) and (5) and by taking the measurements by trundle wheels as reference, compare the errors of the results obtained by measuring the floor plan of the school playground and by GPS tracking apps.
7. Students discuss which method (scaled floor plan or GPS) is more reliable and how to reduce the errors in measurement.
Notes for Teachers:
1. It is desirable for students to work in small groups.
2. The teacher should allow ample opportunities for students to discuss and draw conclusion by themselves instead of giving them straightforward hints.
3. The teacher should prepare prior information about the dimensions of the school playground.
4. The teacher should install the GPS tracking apps in the tablets before the lessons.
5. The teacher could also conduct the activity in a standard athletic ground and asks students to measure the lengths of tracks for studying the errors of measurements by GPS tacking apps.
6. GPS function is widely used nowadays. Teachers could encourage students to find out the principle and usage of GPS from the Internet.
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This example mainly involves the following generic skills:
1. Communication Skills
Understand, analyse and respond to spoken instructions from the teacher and written instructions in worksheets
Use appropriate language and mathematical expressions to present the methods and results of calculations
Discuss and work with others to accomplish tasks, for example, determining the most appropriate way to take the measurement through discussion
2. Critical Thinking Skills
Understand the restrictions of real measurement
Evaluate the ways of finding the actual dimensions of the school playground
Draw logical conclusions based on adequate data and evidence, for example, by comparing different methods and related errors in measuring to conclude the most appropriate method for taking measurements
3. Information Technology Skills
Use the GPS tracking apps in the tablet to carry out the exploratory activities
4. Problem Solving Skills
Compare the results of different measurement methods and justify the method selected
Example 12