Teacher instructions

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune in: Leaf lengths

15 minutes

Find out: Mathematical theory

25 minutes

Take action: Stem and leaf plots

Tune in: Leaf lengths

Step 1.

If you aren't already outside, take the class to your outdoor learning space. Review outdoor learning rules and the benefits of outdoor learning with students, including potential hazards and actions to take in the event of hazards.

Step 2. Discuss:

Do you think there might be a difference in the length of leaves on different species of trees? Why might this be the case?
What methods do we know of to be able to easily display this kind of data?

Find out: Mathematical theory

Step 1.

Explain that a group of students conducted a survey on how many books people read in a year. The results were:11, 15, 16, 8, 4, 16, 20, 32, 6, 5, 14, 18, 19. 21, 45, 23, 4, 7, 9, 18, 13, 14, 2, 7Look at these numbers, it can be a little difficult to see what's going on. A stem and leaf plot is a useful way of organising this data.

Step 2. Demonstrate:

First, collect all the data that begins with the same 'stem'.

2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9

11, 13, 14, 14, 15, 16, 16, 18, 18, 19

20, 21, 23

32

45

Make sure the numbers are in ascending order!

This is good, but a stem and leaf plot allows us to simply this even further.

0	2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9
1	1, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9
2	0, 1, 3
3	2
4	5

It's important to note that any data in single digits has a zero as their stem.

Another way of explaining this is in terms of 'tens' and 'units'. The lower numbers, for example 8 and 4, have no 'tens'. Whereas numbers in the twenties have 2 'tens' and some 'units.

Take action: Stem and leaf plots

Step 1.

Send students out around the school grounds to find a collection of leaves. They should find a mix of short, medium, and large leaves. The leaves should also be from different species of trees.

Step 2.

Bring the leaves back to the learning space and have students measure the them to create a data set.

Step 3.

Plot the data as a stem and leaf graph.

Step 4.

Calculate the mean, median and mode of the data.

Step 5.

Analyse the data.

What is the distribution of leaf length within your school? Are the leaves you found all long, or all short, or a mix?
Is there a length of leaf that is noticeably absent?
What does this tell us about the leaves of trees and their scientific function?
What does this tell us about the biodiversity of trees in the school?

Reflection

Discuss:

Do you think the process of collecting data you used in this lesson is a useful way of collecting data about the environment? Why or why not?
What other environmental data might it be useful to collect in this way?

Outdoor Learning - Stem and Leaf Graphs

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