Collecting data [ S1.1 Core Starter] James is investigating the lengths of words in newspapers. Here are the number of letters in the words of a paragraph in a newspaper. Use a tally chart to help you analyse James’ results. Jot down anything interesting you can “see” from your tally chart. 11 3 2 8 10 6 4 12 5 1 7 13 14 Preamble This standard investigation gives pupils the opportunity to practice their tallying skills and to interpret the resulting tally chart (if felt appropriate the use of dot plots could be touched upon). Some pupils may need reminding of the correct method of compiling a tally chart i.e. to work though the table of results from the start, not by counting all the 1s, then all the 2s etc. Another important aspect is to enquire how the tally may be quickly checked. A possible homework task would be to repeat a similar investigation comparing different magazines/copies etc. Possible content Making and interpreting a tally chart. Resources None. Solution/Notes Most words are 2 to 4 letters long or similar. Original Material © Cambridge University Press 2010 length 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 freq. 22 30 20 Original Material © Cambridge University Press 2010