Statistics is the term used for teaching the collection, presentation and analysis of information or data. This includes all forms of graphs and charts as well as analysis tools such as finding the mean, median, mode and range.

Children will typically start learning statistics by learning how to read and interpret pictograms and tally charts.

 

What are pictograms?

Pictograms are charts that use pictures, icons, and symbols to represent data. They are just like bar charts; however, they use pictures to represent the numbers involved.

What are tally charts?

A tally chart is used for recording amounts of items. One tally mark shows that there is one item while four tally marks with a diagonal line through shows there are five items.

What are Carroll diagrams?

Carroll diagrams are another way of representing data that's easily accessible to younger children.

The typical next steps for children to learn will be bar graphs or bar charts.

What are bar graphs?

A bar graph clearly displays results and information.

The number of items is shown on the y axis, which is vertical. The types of items are shown on the x axis, which is horizontal.

What are line graphs?

Then they start to look at line graphs, which uses points connected by lines to show how something has changed in value.

They typically show time on the x axis (horizontal).

What are pie charts?

After this we have pie charts. A pie chart is a circular chart divided into sections. Each sector shows the relative size of each value. Pie charts are a visual device that enable data to be interpreted more simply. Percentages are generally added to pie charts to make them easier to interpret and they help to show the sample size that was collected to get these results.