Mathematics
Intermediate
50 mins
Teacher/Student led
Learning Goals
Learning Outcomes
Lesson Files
+80 XP
What you need:
IWB/Projector/Large Screen
tally template

Posing a Question and Collecting Data with a Tally

Learn to pose a question with a small set of answers and collect class data using tally marks, grouping every fifth stroke into a gate-mark for easy counting.

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    1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

    Illustration for Getting StartedToday we learn how to pose a data question the class can tally. A good question has only a few tidy answers, not dozens.

    Watch one worked example. We want to know about morning travel. A weak question is What is your favourite thing about the journey? because answers could go on forever. A strong question is How did you travel to school this morning? with only a few answers: walked, car, bus, cycled. That small set is easy to tally.

    Now look at two questions on the board: What is your favourite GAA county? and How did you travel to school this morning? Which one has only a few tidy answers, and which one could have nearly thirty different answers?

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +5 XP

    2 - Watch and Notice ~10 mins

    Look at this tally chart for the question What is your favourite fruit? with three answers: apple, banana and orange.

    Key point

    Notice how each answer gets one stroke. The apple row shows four single strokes. The banana row has a full gate of five and two more, so that is seven. The fifth stroke goes across the first four to make a gate of five. Counting in fives makes the rows quick to read.

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +10 XP

    3 - Try It Together ~14 mins

    Today we explore one real question together: What is your favourite school subject? with the answers Maths, English, PE and Art. We go round the room and each pupil says their one pick out loud. As each pupil names their subject, we add one mark to the matching row on the board, making a gate-mark every fifth stroke. Let's check our rows count up in fives.

    Favourite school subject

    +15 XP

    4 - Rule Your Tally Chart in Your Copy ~4 mins

    COPYBOOK MOMENT

    In your maths copy, write 'How many of us...?' at the top and rule a tally chart with one row for each question (Brought a lunchbox, Has a sister, Likes brown bread, Walked to school), ready to fill as the yeses are counted. Leave plenty of space along each row for your marks, and remember to cross every fifth stroke to make a gate.

    +10 XP

    5 - Class Challenge ~12 mins

    Today we run quick whole-class tallies. Each question is a how many of us...? question, and the count of yeses fills one row on our chart:

    • How many of us brought a lunchbox today?
    • How many of us have a sister?
    • How many of us like brown bread?
    • How many of us walked to school today?
    Key point

    For each question, every pupil who answers yes adds one to that question's row, so each question gives us one row. As the rows fill across the whole class, our gate-marks really earn their keep.

    How many of us...?

    +15 XP

    6 - What Did We Notice? ~3 mins

    MATHS TALK

    Why is What is your favourite animal? harder to tally than Do you have a pet — yes or no? What makes a question easy or hard to count?

    +10 XP

    7 - What's Next ~2 mins

    What we learned today

    • A good data question has a small, tidy set of answers.
    • We tally one mark per answer and cross every fifth stroke to make a gate of five.
    • Counting in fives makes our rows quick and fair to read.

    Coming up

    Next we turn our tally marks into numbers in a frequency table, so we can see at a glance which answer won.

    +5 XP
    Pupil practice
    Module 9 · Data and Chance Data & Chance
    Lesson 101 · Posing a Question and Collecting Data with a Tally
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