Data handling and probability (Grade 5) – Week 4 focus
Download the Lessonotes Mobile South Africa app for faster lesson access on Android and iPhone.
Subject: Mathematics
Class: Grade 5
Term: Term 4
Week: 4
Theme: General lesson support
This page supports the lesson note with a companion video and a short classroom-ready summary.
For class groups and homework, share this lesson page so learners also get the summary, objectives, and full lesson context.
Data handling and probability are essential skills that help us make sense of the world around us. In South Africa, we constantly encounter data, from weather forecasts to information about our favourite sports teams. Understanding data helps us make informed decisions, while understanding probability helps us predict the likelihood of events. This week, we'll be focusing on representing data using bar graphs and pictographs, interpreting data from these graphs, and understanding simple probability concepts.
Bar Graphs: A bar graph is a way of displaying data using rectangular bars. The height of each bar represents the quantity of data for that category. Bar graphs are useful for comparing different categories.
Axes: Bar graphs have two axes: a horizontal axis (x-axis) and a vertical axis (y-axis). One axis shows the categories being compared, and the other axis shows the scale (the numbers representing the amount for each category).
Scale: The scale is the numbers on the y-axis. Choosing the right scale is important so the graph is easy to read. Make sure the intervals between the numbers are equal.
Labels: Both axes and the graph itself must be clearly labeled so anyone can understand what the data represents.
Example 1: Imagine a survey about favourite fruits in a Grade 5 class.
The results are: Apples (10 votes), Bananas (15 votes), Oranges (5 votes), and Grapes (12 votes). Let's create a bar graph.
Draw the axes: Draw a horizontal line (x-axis) and a vertical line (y-axis).
Label the x-axis: Write the names of the fruits (Apples, Bananas, Oranges, Grapes) along the x-axis, leaving space between each.
Choose a scale for the y-axis: The highest number of votes is 15, so a scale from 0 to 16 (or even 20) is suitable. We can use intervals of 2 (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20). Label the y-axis with "Number of Votes." Draw the bars: Draw a bar above each fruit, reaching the height corresponding to the number of votes. For Apples, the bar goes up to 10; for Bananas, it goes up to 15; for Oranges, it goes up to 5; and for Grapes, it goes up to
1
2. Label the graph: Give the graph a title, such as "Favourite Fruits in Grade 5." Pictographs: A pictograph uses pictures or symbols to represent data. Each picture represents a certain number of items.
Key: A key is essential for a pictograph. It tells you what each picture stands for. For example, one sun icon might represent 5 sunny days.
Example 2: Let's represent the number of learners in different sports teams using a pictograph.
Imagine: Soccer (20 learners), Netball (15 learners), Rugby (10 learners), and Athletics (25 learners).
Choose a symbol: Let's use a person icon to represent learners.
Determine the key: Let one person icon represent 5 learners.
Draw the pictograph: Soccer: Draw 4 person icons (4 x 5 = 20).
Netball: Draw 3 person icons (3 x 5 = 15).
Rugby: Draw 2 person icons (2 x 5 = 10).
Athletics: Draw 5 person icons (5 x 5 = 25).
Label the pictograph: Give the pictograph a title like "Learners in Sports Teams" and include the key.
Probability: Probability is the chance of something happening. We use words like "certain," "likely," "unlikely," and "impossible" to describe how probable an event is.
Certain: An event that will definitely happen (e.g., the sun will rise tomorrow).
Likely: An event that has a good chance of happening (e.g., drawing a vowel from the letters A, E, I, O, U).
Unlikely: An event that has a small chance of happening (e.g., winning the lottery).
Impossible: An event that cannot happen (e.g., a cow flying).
Example 3: Let's say you have a bag with 3 red balls and 1 blue ball. What is the probability of picking a red ball? It is likely because there are more red balls than blue balls. What is the probability of picking a green ball? It is impossible because there are no green balls in the bag. Guided Practice (With Solutions)
Question 1: The table shows the number of cars of different colours seen parked in a shopping mall parking lot: | Colour | Number of Cars | |---|---| | Silver | 15 | | White | 20 | | Black | 10 | | Red | 5 | Draw a bar graph to represent this data.
Solution: Axes: Draw the x and y axes.
X-axis: Label the x-axis with the car colours (Silver, White, Black, Red).
Y-axis: Choose a scale from 0 to 25 with intervals of 5 (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25). Label the y-axis as "Number of Cars." Bars: Draw bars for each colour: Silver (15), White (20), Black (10), Red (5).
Title: "Car Colours in Parking Lot" Question 2: The following pictograph shows the number of books read by learners in a month. Each book icon represents 2 books.
Book Icons: Lerato: 5 book icons Sipho: 3 book icons Zanele: 4 book icons Thando: 6 book icons How many books did Zanele read?
Solution: Zanele has 4 book icons. Since each icon represents 2 books, Zanele read 4 * 2 = 8 books.
Question 3: You have a spinner with four equal sections coloured blue, green, yellow and red. What is the probability of landing on the blue section?
Solution: It is likely that the spinner will land on the blue section, since each section is equally sized, and there is only one blue section, and one each of the other colours. Independent Practice (Questions Only) A survey was conducted in a Grade 5 class about their favourite pets. 12 learners chose dogs, 8 chose cats, 6 chose birds, and 4 chose fish. Draw a bar graph to represent this data.