Data collection and display vocabulary
Read, write, and use the vocabulary of data collection and display — data, tally, tally chart, frequency, frequency table, survey, pictogram, bar chart, axis/axes, scale, label, category, discrete data, continuous data, line graph, pie chart — and apply these terms when collecting, organising, and presenting data
What a learner can do afterwards
- Correctly label the axes of a bar chart including a title, axis labels, and scale
- Distinguish between discrete data (counted) and continuous data (measured) with an example of each
- Use 'tally', 'frequency', and 'pictogram' correctly when describing how to record and display data
1 · Read
To find out what everyone likes, you can do a survey. A survey means asking the same question to lots of people and writing down what they say. A tally chart is a fast way to count the answers. Instead of writing numbers, you draw a short line for each answer. Every fifth line crosses the first four, so a group of five is easy to spot.
Mia asked her class which fruit they like best. She tallied the votes: apples got four, bananas got three, grapes got two. Each of these totals is called a frequency, the number of times something was counted. Mia wrote her tallies into a frequency table, then drew a pictogram using little fruit pictures, one picture for each vote.
A bar chart needs three things so anyone can read it. The title says what the chart is about. The labels along the bottom name each category. The scale up the side shows how many each bar stands for. The two edges of the chart are called the axes.
Numbers you count, like how many pets you have, are called discrete data. You always land on a whole number. Numbers you measure, like your height, are called continuous data. They can be any value, even ones in between, like 120 and a half centimeters.
Tally charts, frequency tables, and pictograms all show data from a survey, and a clear bar chart always has a title, labels, and a scale.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Nothing; this is a starting point.
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.