Pictograms and tally charts (age 6+)
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
The lesson
When you want to find out something, like everyone's favorite pet, 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.
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.
Watch it
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.