Bar charts

• Mathematics
• Primary Education

Bar charts

Reading, interpreting and drawing bar charts 

In this lesson, you will:

• Use knowledge of key number patterns (1,2 and 5 and other key facts) to read scales on charts and identify what smaller divisions are worth
  
• Make 2 evaluative comments on a bar chart related to the childcare industry
• Draw a bar chart and reflect on how many marks you would have gathered
  

First we will...

• Use knowledge of key number patterns (1,2 and 5 etc.) to read scales on charts and identify what smaller divisions are worth
• By listening to a short explanation/demonstration
• Playing a game on reading scales
• Completing a card matching task and reviewing this as a group

Reading scales on charts and identifying what smaller divisions are worth

• When interpreting a graph, look at the scale on the vertical axis. 
• What are the numbers marked going up in (or increasing by)?
• The numbers marked may have divisions marked between them.
• Work out what each division is worth by dividing the steps the scale is going up in by the number of divisions. 
• In this example we divide 10 by the 10 divisions and each small division is worth 1. 

Another example

• What are the numbers marked going up in (or increasing by)?
• How many divisions are there between the marked numbers?
• What is each division worth?
• 50 divided by the 10 divisions is 5
• So each smaller box/division is worth 5. 

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Reading scales on charts and identifying what smaller divisions are worth

Task: Work in pairs to identify what each vertical scale is going up in/increasing by and what each small division is worth. 

Make 2 evaluative comments on a bar chart related to industry

What are evaluative comments?

• This could be a trend that you notice. 
• Is something moving in a certain direction? Increasing or decreasing? 
• You might comment on the highest or lowest amount of something.
• You might make a comparison. 

Making comments

• Recommended daily intake is what children should be eating every day
• Average daily intake is what they are actually eating
• Children are consuming more sugar, fat, salt than is recommended. 
• Children are are consuming less fruit and vegetables, oily fish and fibre than is recommended. 

You will read bar charts taken from a Northern Ireland Childcare Survey (2023)

Main findings from survey:

• On average parents are spending around £9,360 a year on childcare. This rises to over £14,000 for parents with a child under 5 who are using formal childcare only. 
• 84% of childcare providers report that they are making a loss or just breaking even
• 82% of childcare providers anticipate their costs will rise further in the next year
• 15% of families report using an unregistered childminder for some or all of their childcare
• The average cost of a full-time childcare place in Northern Ireland is now £10,036 a year
• This is an increase of 14% since 2021 and is more than the maximum costs supported through Tax-free childcare

Paired task

You will read bar charts taken from a Northern Ireland Childcare Survey (2023)

Discuss in pairs and make 2 comments on what the chart shows. 

Write these down on the chart. 

How confident do you feel making evaluative comments on bar charts?

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Final learning objective

• Draw a bar chart and reflect on how many marks you would have gathered
• Look at the image: what is needed for a bar chart?

What is needed when drawing a bar chart?

Draw a bar chart and reflect on how many marks you would have gathered

Task 1: Complete scaffolded task on drawing bar charts

Task 2: Complete sample exam question

How many marks would I get?

• Vertical scale starts at 0 and goes up consistently to include highest figure= 2 marks
• Title and labels on both axes = 2 marks
• Bars drawn correctly = 2 marks

Today's learning objectives:

• Use knowledge of key number patterns (1,2 and 5 and multiples of these numbers) to read scales on charts and identify what smaller divisions are worth
  
• Make 2 evaluative comments on a bar chart related to the childcare industry
  
• Draw a bar chart and reflect on how many marks you would have gathered
• Next week we will revise everything covered in this term so far (e.g. key facts, partial products,  multiplying and dividing by 10,100 and 1000, subtraction) using games, quizzes and group tasks. 

Describe what you learned about today.