TES Maths ROTW: Misleading data activity

TES Maths Resource of the Week

Resources title: Misleading data activity

Resource author: dianatany

What is it?

There are some mathematics topics that will serve students well for the rest of their lives and learning to recognise and judge data with a critical eye is one of them.

In this rich and engaging activity, students are challenged to produce a report that makes their choice of product look appealing, using real-life data in a misleading way.

How can it be used?

This activity is ideal for small groups, but may require some teacher input at the start. Show pupils examples of misleading graphs to provoke discussion about their features and the reasons why the creators have chosen to display them this way. There are two good examples here and here.

This activity has an enormous amount of cross-curricular potential. For example, you could extend the activity by encouraging learners to use technology to produce graphs and create posters. Or why not get them to pitch their product in the style of The Apprentice?

Craig Barton

Craig is a secondary maths teacher in the North of England.

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