Investigations: Generating Meaning for Range, Mode, Median, and Mean
2009; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics; Volume: 16; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.5951/tcm.16.4.0246
ISSN2327-0780
AutoresLouAnn H. Lovin, Joey Mason, Erin Shifflett,
Tópico(s)Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques
Resumo^How such as, average U.S. household has 2.24 television sets or According to the Humane Society, on average, U.S. pet owners have 1.7 dogs and 2.3 cats? Students are typically taught a procedure for finding an average. When people understand average as a procedure but have no real understanding of the concept, they struggle with the meaning of such statements. Before this investigation, terminology and concepts for finding averages were unfamiliar to our students. Instead of starting with formal definitions for range, mode, median, and mean and then teaching procedures to find these numbers, we chose a different approach. We first engaged students in investigations to develop meaning for these mathematical terms, an approach that helps students better understand and remember the concepts. The students in the investigation were from two diverse fifth-grade classrooms at Westwood Elementary School in Waynesboro, Virginia.
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