The purpose of this activity is for students to answer questions about data represented with tally marks. First, the teacher or class decides on a new survey question and three possible responses. The survey question should be in the format “Which [noun] is your favorite?”

Students in Group A take the survey and their data is recorded using tally marks. Each response is given and recorded one student at a time to emphasize the purpose of using tally marks to show data. Students answer “how many in each category?” and “how many in all?” questions about the data and discuss how they determined the answer to each type of question.

• “How did you know how many students chose category 1?” (I counted each tally mark. I knew there was a group of 5 and counted on for the rest.)
• “How did you figure out how many students took the survey?” (I counted all of the tally marks.)

The purpose of this activity is for students to answer questions about data represented with numbers. Students in Group B answer the same survey question as in the previous activity and their data is recorded using numbers. The entire group takes the survey at the same time, and their answers are counted and recorded. This emphasizes how the survey method can affect how data is represented. (There is no need to use tally marks in this method.)

Students answer “how many in each category?” and “how many in all?” questions about the data and discuss how they determined the answer to each type of question. When students determine how many students took the survey they may draw a picture or use objects to represent the students (MP5) or they may add the numbers directly understanding that they represent the students (MP2).

• “How did you know how many students chose category 1?” (I just looked at the number.)
• “How did you figure out how many students took the survey?” (I drew circles for each group and counted them all. I added all of the numbers together.)
• “Which question could you answer quickly by just looking at the representation? Why?” (The first three questions because the number told us the answer.)
• “Which question took the most time to answer? Why?” (The question about how many students took the survey because I had to add all the numbers.)