The purpose of this activity is to introduce students to a scaled bar graph. Students consider a single-unit scale bar graph next to a bar graph with a scale of 2, both representing the same set of categorical data. Students discuss similarities and differences between a single-unit scale bar graph and a bar graph with a scale of 2.

• “¿Qué fue parecido en las gráficas? ¿Qué fue diferente?” // “What was the same? What was different?”
• Share and record responses.
• If it doesn't come up, elicit the idea that the scale on the second graph counts by 2.
• “Cuando cada salto en la escala es un número diferente de 1, decimos que es una gráfica de barras con escala” // “When each jump on the scale is some number other than 1, we say that it’s a scaled bar graph.”
• “¿Para qué sirve hacer una gráfica de barras con escala?” // “Why would it be helpful to make a scaled bar graph?” (If you didn't want to count one by one. If you wanted to show larger numbers on your graph.)

The purpose of this activity is for students to create a scaled bar graph. Pairs of students graph the same data, but one uses a scale of 2 and the other uses a scale of 5.  Students then compare their graphs and discuss how the different scales affect how the graphs look and how accurately they can tell the exact number each bar represents (MP6). In the Activity Synthesis, students discuss how they represented an odd number of students with a scale of 2 and a number of students that was not a multiple of 5 with a scale of 5. These questions should be adjusted based on the class data.

• Display student work with both scales.
• “¿Cómo hicieron para representar una forma de viajar que no correspondía exactamente a un número de la escala?” // “How did you represent a way of travel that didn’t land right on the numbers in the scale?” (It was between the 2 numbers, so I had to make a guess about where the bar should stop.)
• “¿Qué diferencias observan entre la gráfica con una escala de 2 y la gráfica con una escala de 5?” // “What differences do you notice when the graph is with a scale of 2 and when the graph is with a scale of 5?" (The bars look taller when the scale is 2. It's hard to tell what number some bars represent when the scale is 5. It was easier to count up to larger amounts when the scale was 5.)