Plotting and Interpreting Statistical Diagrams

August 23, 2016

Students learn how to plot and interpret various statistical diagrams ranging from pie charts to histograms with unequal class widths.  Throughout the unit, emphasis is placed on interpreting the diagrams as much as it is plotting them.

This unit takes place in Year 9 Term 3 and is followed by calculating statistical measures such as averages and range.

Plotting and Interpreting Statistical Diagrams Lessons
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Box and Whisker Diagrams
4 Part Lesson
Box and Whisker Diagrams
Students learn how to plot a box and whisker diagram.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Plotting Time Series
4 Part Lesson
Plotting Time Series
Students learn how to plot a time series and recognise trends over time.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Drawing Pie Charts
4 Part Lesson
Drawing Pie Charts
Students learn how to plot pie charts with and without a calculator from a frequency table.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Interpreting Pie Charts
4 Part Lesson
Interpreting Pie Charts
Students learn how to interpret pie charts using proportions.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Interpreting Histograms
4 Part Lesson
Interpreting Histograms
Students learn how to interpret histograms with unequal class widths.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Drawing Histograms
4 Part Lesson
Drawing Histograms
Students learn how to draw a histogram with unequal class widths.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Frequency Diagrams and Polygons
4 Part Lesson
Frequency Diagrams and Polygons
Students learn how to plot a frequency diagram and polygon from a table of results.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Cumulative Frequency Graphs
4 Part Lesson
Cumulative Frequency Graphs
Students learn how to plot a cumulative frequency graph from a grouped data table.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Stem & Leaf Diagrams
4 Part Lesson
Stem & Leaf Diagrams
Students learn how to read data and calculate averages from a stem and leaf diagram.
Additional Resources
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Frequency Diagrams
Extended Learning
Frequency Diagrams
Additional practice drawing frequency diagrams from grouped data.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Box and Whisker Diagrams
Extended Learning
Box and Whisker Diagrams
Additional practice drawing and interpreting box and whisker diagrams.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Drawing and Interpreting Histograms
Extended Learning
Drawing and Interpreting Histograms
Students gain additional practice drawing and interpreting histograms.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Extended Learning - Drawing Pie Charts
Extended Learning
Drawing Pie Charts
Additional practice drawing pie charts from a frequency table.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Problem Solving with Cumulative Frequency Graphs
Problem Solving
Cumulative Frequency Graphs
Students are challenged to solve a range of problems involving cumulative frequency.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Revising Pie Charts
Revision
Pie Charts
Revision lesson on drawing and interpreting pie charts for exam students.
Handling Data: Interactive Lessons
Revising Histograms with Unequal Class Widths
Revision
Histograms with Unequal Class Widths
Revision lesson on drawing and interpreting histograms with unequal class widths.
Prerequisite Knowledge
  • Interpret and construct:
    • frequency tables
    • bar charts
    • pictograms
  • for categorical data.
  • Construct and interpret stem and leaf diagrams
  • Apply statistics to describe a population
Success Criteria
  • Infer properties of populations or distributions from a sample, whilst knowing the limitations of sampling
  • Interpret and construct tables and line graphs for time series data and know their appropriate useconstruct and interpret diagrams for grouped discrete data and continuous data, i.e. histograms with equal and unequal class intervals and cumulative frequency graphs, and know their appropriate use.
Key Concepts
  • Students need to spend time interpreting the diagrams as well as creating them.
  • When using pie charts to compare distributions the frequency of corresponding sectors is dependent on the total sample size.
  • Frequency diagrams are used to represent discrete data whereas histograms are used for continuous data.
  • Histograms with unequal class widths represent data with an unequal spread. Frequency is found using the area of a bar rather than its height.
  • Cumulative frequency is the running total of the frequency.
  • The interquartile range (IQR) shows the boundaries of where the most representative data is located.
Common Misconceptions
  • Histograms are often confused with frequency diagrams.
  • Students tend to be more competent with constructing the various representations than using them to analyse and make summative comments about distributions.

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