Data Collection, Visualization, and Interpretation

Fifth graders worked in small groups to share ideas about what a positive classroom learning environment looks like. Afterwards they completed a Google form survey to share what they thought was the most important response to each of 7 questions. To visualize their responses, each student built a word cloud to share this data. Some discussions included how data is collected online and being careful about what information we share while online. Finally we reviewed alternative ways to represent and read data.

The statements they considered:

1. I think a positive learning environment looks like…
2. One way I can support a friend when working in groups is to ….
3. To make sure I’m ready for class I …
4. If someone is speaking in my group I should …
5. Submitted work should reflect …
6. One way my teacher can support my learning is to …
7. One way my parents or guardians can support my learning is to …

We used a word cloud generator, WordCloud. With this tool, students explored Shapes, Fonts, Text Direction, Colors, and Masking. More popular or frequently occurring student responses are larger while those equally important but less popular are smaller. Take a look below to see these awesome creations.

After building our word clouds we discussed ways data is collected, Google forms, browser history, apps we use, and also different ways we can visualize and interpret data, like pie charts, word clouds, and more.  

Finally, using their data I generated our classroom FAB Constitution. Students reviewed this document, its preamble and 3 articles. They had an opportunity to review, discuss, and offer amendments. No student expressed that their ideas were not reflected in this document. Next they signed and I printed one for each class. Here is an example. 

Stay tuned for our digital drawings with Google Slides. ;-)