Decision Making

Using Data Collection and Data Analysis

with Mrs. Vaage's Kindergarten
Children love to learn big "authentic" words, so early in the fall, we learned about "Data Collection" and "Data Analysis." 
On this poster, you can see cut out samples from our actual classroom process work. I typed up headings and explanations to share with parents to help document that process.

Here you can see the four step process to make decision.

1. Identify the problem.

2. Think of solutions.

3. Each person gets to pick their choice of solution.

4. Analyze the data to see which solution is the best for the group.

One of the best ways to help give children ownership of the classroom is to share some decisions with them. We looked at the possibilities for changing the house center. It seemed as if the majority wanted to keep it just as it was.

If you notice, I give the children a visual cue to help them remember the categories.

Each community of children is unique, yet one thing is constant. Their curiosity is endless.

Left with deciding what to do with the pumpkins, we ended up identifying 2 strands within one problem that required 2 votes and decision making processes.

  

Our class loves to build big things. We had a huge leatherback turtle and a Franklin house that each take up a lot of room. When the children said they wanted to also make a dinosaur, we needed to make some decisions. If we chose to make a dinosaur, then we would need to take down one of our other items.

  • they decided that if they had to take down something, it would be the Franklin House. The turtle was too important to them.

  • they decided that they wanted to build a dinosaur more than they wanted to keep the Franklin House

The question was then about size of the dinosaur. Did they want to make one big one, or two small ones? And what kind of dinosaur did they want to build?

  • they decided to they would rather build one big dinosaur rather than 2 smaller ones

  • more children wanted to build a duckbill dinosaur rather than any other type

For each question, we used a two phase process. The first step was to "collect the data," or "data collection." The second step was to "analyze the data," or "data analysis." The children began to use these words when I asked them what we needed to do next.

Our next step was to determine which duckbill we would build. We needed to do research, so the adults in the room worked with small groups to generate from the dinosaur reference books, a list of all the types of duckbill dinosaurs we could find. Because the names were long and complex, I used a simple head drawing to help the children discriminate among the duckbills to make their choice.
  • the favorite duckbill dinosaur was the Parasauralophus
Using data collection and analysis within a context helps children to see the usefulness and practicality of math. It almost becomes automatic for them to refer back to this method whenever a new decision needs to be made. The children are also able to articulate to their parents about this whole process.