Line Plot, Mean, Median, and Range Worksheets
Having the ability to make sense from information that we have gathered is a very valuable skill to have. When it comes to line plots and analyzing data sets, we often examine three common measures that we call the central tendency. These measures help us better understand the dynamics and unmentioned aspects of the statistics that we are using and evaluating. These worksheets and lessons will help students learn how to find these measures in various charts, line plots, displays, and data tables.
Aligned Standard: Grade 6 Statistics - 6.SP.A.2
- Box Charts Step-by-step Lesson- Determine the central tendency of data in a box chart form.
- Guided Lesson - Finding the median amount of RAM in computers at the computer lab... I sometimes wonder why people refer to me as a "geek". I get it now!
- Guided Lesson Explanation - I never remember using an equation to find the median of a set, but this one really works.
- Practice Worksheet - A serious sack of questions that will help you master the concepts of all skills.
- Matching Worksheet - In this one I throw a bunch of data driven charts at you. You will like it.
- Answer Keys - These are for all the unlocked materials above.
Homework Sheets
These popping up all the time on State level tests these days.
- Homework 1 - The dot plot shows the number of oranges each person ate. Describe the data by explaining the mean.
- Homework 2 - The "mean" is the average of the data> To calculate the mean, add up all the data and then divide by the number of instances of data you have.
- Homework 3 - Alan has 7 baskets that have different amounts of apples in them. The amounts were: 4 KG, 2 KG, 1 KG, 5 KG, 3 KG, 2 KG, and 3 KG. What was the median size of the apple baskets?
Practice Worksheets
This should give students more than enough practice on this skill.
- Practice 1 - The school teacher made a graph showing the scores (out of 9) of the students. What is the median of the data set?
- Practice 2 - This is a list of the number of toys each child has. What is the mean number of toys?
- Practice 3 - The cooking teacher made a table showing the number of cookies each person made. What is the range of the cookies made by each person?
Math Skill Quizzes
These questions were all created by my grandkids. They are pretty good too!
- Quiz 1 - The dot plot shows the number of mangoes each person ate. Describe the data by explaining the mean.
- Quiz 2 - The hockey coach made a graph showing the number of goals scored by his players. What is the median of the data?
- Quiz 3 - The table shows the number of points each student gets on the exam. What is the range for the data set?
How to Find the Mean, Median, and Range on Line Plots
By the time a kid gets promoted to the third grade, he or she has an idea as to how to display data using charts and graphs. In grade four, they are introduced to the use of tally chart and line plots. We now work towards learning how to extract data and make sense of these charts and plots. Once we understand it well, we will be able to use the data to make decisions and spot trends within them.
The three common measures that we use to make sense of data are range, mean, median, and mode. This helps us look at the data as a whole and better understand our situation. Let's explore each of these measures.
Mean: Mean is also known as the average value of the entire data. Calculating the mean is simple. You add each value in the data set and then divide by the total number of data points that were used in your sum.
To the untrained eye, the mean appears to be the most important measure because it tells us our center point for the data we are analyzing. It can be deceiving because it does not give you insight into how far the data is spread out. If 3 people took a test and the average was 50% you would instantly think that the test was impossible. What if the 3 students scores were 0%, 50%, and 100%. Yes, it might have been difficult, but obviously if someone got a perfect score, it surely was not impossible.
Median: The middle value of the entire data is median. This is not some statistic; this is actually a data point that we have either collected or were given. This represents the middle of our data and will help us get a quick idea if there are some outliers in our set.
There are two conditions that we have to consider when calculating the median, either the total number of values in the data are even, or the total number of values in the data is odd. For an even number of terms you divide the total frequency by 2. Median terms: (Total number of terms)/2, (Total number of terms ) / 2 + 1. These are the median terms; you can count the frequency and locate the median values. For an odd number of terms, you divide the total frequency by 2. Median terms: (Total number of terms)/2. The answer you get is the median term number; you can count the frequency and locate the median value.
Mode: The most frequently repeated value in the data is the mode of the data. You can simply count the tally or frequency for each value and find the mode. This can help us quickly identify the makeup and nature categorical data.
Range: The range is the difference between our highest and lowest value. It tells us about the gap between where our data starts and ends at. The range can be very misleading if you have a very high or low measures at those extremes. It does give us a very general view of where the data sets are centered.