As People Get Older, They Get Taller

Lesson 2 from the NCTM Illuminations Unit As People Get Older, They Get Taller. This lesson focuses on children comparing the heights of children at different ages to begin to understand terms like taller and tallest.  A key goal for instruction on algebra at the elementary level is to analyze change, and to understand how change in one variable can relate to change in a second variable. The goal of this lesson is for students to explore how changes in students’ ages relate to changes in their heights. This lesson is applicable from K throughout middle school. In Kindergarten it would be great to partner a student with an older student from another grade. The older student can serve as the scribe for the pair when they collect the data. The lab sheet is provided as is guidance on facilitating the lesson as are questions to help guide student understanding. There are alternative assessment strategies and extensions for this lesson and another lesson on quantitative change in this unit.

Weblink address (URL): 
As People Get Older, They Get Taller

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives: 

Learning Objectives

Students will:

  • Represent data collected on two variables in a line graph format.
  • Understand how changes in one variable relate to changes in a second variable.
  • Develop an initial understanding of statistical concepts including slope, sample, The Law of Large Numbers, and variability.

 

NCTM Standards and Expectations:

  • Describe qualitative change, such as a student’s growing taller.
  • Describe quantitative change, such as a student’s growing two inches in one year.
  • Use tools to measure.
  • Represent data using concrete objects, pictures, and graphs.
  • Identify and describe situations with constant or varying rates of change and compare them.
  • Investigate how a change in one variable relates to a change in a second variable.
  • Collect data using observations, surveys, and experiments.
  • Represent data using tables and graphs such as line plots, bar graphs, and line graphs.

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Understanding
Extension suggestions: 

Extensions :

  • Ask students to bring in information about their heights that was recorded in their baby book or other documents and examine how the height of a single individual has changed over time. A teacher can also be tapped for this information.
  • Conduct similar explorations of changes over time in the context of classroom plants grown by students. Students can measure the heights of their plants and plot the height data as a function of age of the plant (see Tierney, Nemirovsky, Shulman Weinberg, 1998).

 

Helpful Hints

Materials:

  • A measuring tape 
  • Large sheets of plain or graph paper 
  • Colored markers  
  • How Old Are We? How Tall Are We? Activity Sheet (completed in the previous lesson) 

References

Contributors: 
Tammy L Jones
Originator: 
Ayers Institute for Learning & Innovation