Monthly rainfall

Monthly rainfall

Pencil and paper
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about reading information from a bar graph.

rainfall bar graph

 

a)
What is the total yearly rainfall for South Town? __________ mm
 
b)
What is the total yearly rainfall for North Town? __________ mm
 
c)
What is the mean monthly rainfall (to 2 decimal places) for South Town? __________ mm
 
d)
What is the mean monthly rainfall (to 2 decimal places) for North Town?
 
__________ mm
 
e)
What is the range of rainfall in
 
  i)  North Town? __________ mm
 
ii) South Town? __________ mm
Task administration: 
This task is completed with pencil and paper only.
Level:
4
Curriculum info: 
Maths, Statistics, Statistical investigations
Keywords: 
bar graphs, graph interpretation, mean, range, time-series
Description of task: 
Students answer questions and calculate means and ranges from a composite histogram of rainfall in two towns.
Curriculum Links: 
This resource can be used to help to identify students' ability to interpret a bar graph, including measures cetrality and spread.
Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Statistical investigations, set 5
within the Mathematics Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
 

Y8 (11/1997)
a)    1820 moderate
b)    645 moderate
c)    151.67 [accept if = answer to a) ÷ 12] difficult
d)    53.75 [accept if = answer to b) ÷ 12] difficult
e) i)
ii)		 25 [accept 40-65]
50 [accept 130-180]
NOTE: The later definition of range (i.e., 40-65) is now in less common usage.		 moderate
difficult

 

Diagnostic and formative information: 
   Common error Likely reason

c)

 1/10 answer to a) Divide by 10 instead of 12 to get monthly average.
d) 1/10 answer to b)
e)i)
   ii)		 65
180		 Confuses maximum with range.
e)i)
   ii)		 40
130		 Confuses minimum with range.