Survey Says...

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling

• Use the Survey Says worksheet to model how to complete the activity.
• First, give students an open-ended question and have them change it to a yes/no question. (For example, "What is your favorite subject?" would be changed to "Is your favorite subject math?"). Write this question on the worksheet.
• Tell students they will collect data from three to nine students. Ask seven students, "Is your favorite subject math?" Tally the results on the worksheet.
• Show students the fraction that represents the results. Remind students that the denominator will be the total number of tally marks, and the numerator will be how many "yes" marks are tallied.
• Next, show students how to translate this fraction into a decimal by reminding them that all fractions are division problems.
• Show them how to divide seven into the numerator.
• Make sure to address any questions or misconceptions at this time. Finally, remind students to multiply the final answer by 100 to get the percentage.

Guided Practice

• Pose another yes/no question, such as "Is your favorite color blue?"
• Ask five students this yes/no question and tally the results.
• Have the class come up with the fraction and percentage.
• Check their answers and work through the problem as a class to ensure that students have done it correctly.

Independent working time

• Pass out the Survey Says worksheet to students.
• Generate some possible survey questions with students. Some example questions are: Are you the oldest child? Do you have a pet at home?
• Have students begin collecting their data. Remind students that they should survey no less than three and no more than nine people with each question.
• Remind students to show their work when determining the percentage.