THE CALA

COMPONENT : A
LEARNING AREA : MATHEMATICS
LEVEL : FORM 4
SYLLABUS TOPIC : STATISTICS
SYLLABUS SUB TOPIC: DATA REPRESENTATION AND MEASURE OF DISPERSION
CALA TYPE: PRACTICAL ACTIVITY PLUS PEN AND PAPER
CALA TITLE: WORD LENGTH SURVEY

COMPETENCES/ SKILLS:
 Draw a bar graph accurately
 Calculate the mode and median correctly

BACKGROUND:
Your English teacher needs to work out whether a book is suitable for her form 4 class to read. One way is to
look at the length of the words within a passage. The hillside was shrouded in mist. Summer was over and the
leaves were turning an autumnal shade of golden brown. A vixen ran through the undergrowth, hesitating
slightly on the course of her journey as if she felt the need for caution. The stillness of the morning was
broken by the brief earth tremor. Helen identified the sound of slates slipping across each other as the ground
vibrated gently. Cattle in her neighbour’s field looked up expectantly and the sheep gazed accusingly at each
other before looking towards the gate, half expecting the farmer with his voluminous sack to appear.

THE CALA PURPOSE:

The purpose of this Cala Task is to engage students in applying their knowledge of statistics correctly to real
life problems.

HOW YOU WILL BE ASSESSED:

You are required to:
1. Use the tally chart to find the frequency of different word lengths in the passage above [5]
2. Display the data you have found in a bar graph. [5]
3. Find the median and mode of the data. [5]
4. Use this information, along with your bar chart, to discuss whether the book would be suitable for a
form 4 class to read. [5]
THE CALA TIPS:
Note the following when drawing a bar graph
 Arrange data intuitively. The point of a chart is to make data easier to read. ...
 Watch your bar widths.
 Don't use 3-D.
 Use the proper direction.
 Use consistent colors.
 Keep y-axis labels short.
 Ditch the grid.
 Don't forget a title and source line.
 The median is the middle value.
 It is the value that splits the dataset in half, making it a natural measure of central tendency.
 To find the median, order your data from smallest to largest, and then find the data point that has an equal
number of values above it and below it.
 The mode is the most frequent score in our data set.
 On a bar graph it represents the highest bar in a bar chart.
 You can, therefore, sometimes consider the mode as being the most popular option.
ACHEVEMENT STANDARDS

DIMENSIONS EXCELLENT GOOD AVERAGE BELOW INADEQUATE

AVERAGE
5 5 4 3 2 1
Knowledge and Excellent Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Cannot use the
understanding development of development of development development of tally chart to
Develop sound sound sound of mathematical find the
Mathematical mathematical mathematical in mathematical skills in using frequency of
skills that enable skills in using the using the tally in using the the tally chart to different word
them to interact tally chart to find chart to find the tally chart to find the lengths in the
more frequency of find the frequency of passage above
the frequency of
meaningfully different word frequency of different word
different word
with the lengths in the different lengths in the
environment lengths in the passage above word lengths passage above
passage above in the
passage
above
10 10-9 8-7 6-5 4-2 1-0
Application Excellent display Good display of Average Below average Inadequate
Understanding, of the data you the data you display of the display of the display of the
use and have found in a have found in a data you have data you have data you have
communicate bar graph and bar graph and found in a found in a bar found in a bar
mathematical calculation of the calculation of bar graph graph and graph and
information median and mode the median and and calculation of calculation of
of the data mode of the data calculation of the median and the median and
the median mode of the data mode of the data
and mode of
the data
5 5 4 3 2-1 0
Evaluation Excellent use of Good use of the Satisfactory Unsatisfactory No clear use of
Think and the mean and mean and mode, use of the use of the mean the mean and
express mode, along with along with your mean and and mode, along mode, along
themselves your bar chart, to bar chart, to mode, along with your bar with your bar
clearly and discuss whether discuss whether with your bar chart, to discuss chart, to discuss
logically the book would be the book would chart, to whether the whether the
suitable for a form be suitable for a discuss book would be book would be
4 class to read. form 4 class to whether the suitable for a suitable for a
read. book would form 4 class to form 4 class to
be suitable read. read.
for a form 4
class to read.
MARKING GUIDE

1. Use the tally chart to find the frequency of different word lengths in the passage above

Tally Tally
Frequency Frequency
1 or 2 letter words 16
3 letter words 24
4 letter words 11
5 letter words 12
6 letter words 15
7 or more letter words 22

[5]
2. Display the data you have found in a bar graph.

WORD LENGTHS IN A PASSAGE

30

25 24
22
TALLY FREQUENCY

20
16 15
15
11 12
10

0
1 or 2 letter 3 letter 4 letter 5 letter 6 letter 7 or more
words words words words words letter words
NUMBER OF LETTERS

[5]

3. Find the median and mode of the data.

( ) ( )
th th
total frequancy+1 100+1 th
a. Median= = =50.5 value=4 letter words [4]
2 2
b. Mode = 3 letter words [1]

4. Use this information, along with your bar chart, to discuss whether the book would be suitable
for a form 4 class to read
The median and mode show that the passage contains mostly shorter words, implying it would be suitable for
a form 4 class to read. However, this data does not take into account that the second highest group of words
has 7 or more letters. A form 4 class probably could read this book, but may find it a challenge and need help
with the longer words.
[5]