6

Too Much Telly?

a computer spreadsheet with a dot-plot graphing option (optional) classmates

Activity One

Haley, Laura, and Ashna read this newspaper headline:

The three Room 6 students asked their classmates to keep a log of how much time they spent watching TV and how much time they spent doing homework. Everyone did this for a week. Here are three of the logs. Each is 1 hour.

1. What is the same about the data in these three logs?

2. How are the logs different from each other?

3. Is it true for these students that those who watched the most TV did the least homework? Explain your answer.

Jessie TV Homework

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Nina TV Homework

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Ruka TV Homework

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

watch too much television

You need

I watch television

after I’ve done

my homework.

I wonder how much

time our class spends

on TV and homework?

Yes, but not

everyone is like

you, Haley.

Schoolwork suffers because students

Statistics: Revised Edition, Levels 2–3

7

Activity Two

The following week, the students in Room 5 also kept a log of the time they spent watching TV and doing homework. To help them make sense of the data, Haley, Laura, and Ashna created these dot plots. (They rounded part-hours up or down to whole hours.)

1. What is the same and what is different in the data for the students in Room 6 and Room 5? Discuss possible reasons with a classmate.

2. Do you think these students are watching too much TV? Explain.

3. a. As a class task for a week, fi nd out how much time the students in your class spend watching TV and how much doing homework. Display the data in dot plots.

b. What does the data tell you about the TV and homework habits of the students in your class?

Focus Exploring and comparing data and telling stories with the help of dot plots

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 hours 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 hours

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 hours0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 hours

TV

HomeworkTV

Homework

Ro

om

5R

oo

m 6

Hours per Person (1 week)