Chapter 3
NAMES,
NAMES, NAMES
INTRODUCTION
In class you graphed
the names of your classmates. You may have found that two or more students
in your class have the same first name. Do you think that some first names
are more common than others? Is your first name a common name or is it
unusual? Each year, parents tell the government when a baby has been born
and the government records the baby's name. This information has been
recorded for many years, and people can learn about popular and unusual
names from these lists. When you have been out shopping, you might have
seen a display of objects, such as nameplates to stick on doors, or hats
with names printed on the brim. Do you usually see your name on one of
these objects or is it almost never there?
THE TASK
A company is making
plastic nameplates and need to know what names will sell the best. They
have decided to begin with 20 names and they want to sell the same nameplates
in all their stores across Canada. Your job is to find out the 10 most
common names for girls and the 10 most common names for boys. You will
then present the information in a graph and recommend to the company what
nameplates to create.
THE PROCESS
1.
Explore the government websites
that are listed here. Find out about common names.
Popular
names in Nova Scotia
Baby's
Most Chosen Names in Saskatchewan
Baby
Boy's Names in Alberta
Baby
Girl's Names in Alberta
Baby's
Most Chosen Name in British Columbia
Most
Popular baby names in the last 120 years
2.
Use the information from the
websites to create charts to compare the information. Use these charts
to create several graphs showing the ten most common boy's names and
the ten most common girl's names.
a.
What year did you choose to show in your graph? Why?
b.
Did you use a pictograph or a bar graph? Why?
c.
What scale was the best for your graph? Why might it be important
to use the same scale for each graph?
d.
Are all your graphs the same? Explain why they are the same or different.
3.
Look at the graphs that you have
created. Write a report to the company telling them what names they
should print on the nameplates. Explain to them why you think these
nameplates will sell the best in stores across Canada.
RESOURCES
Websites:
Popular
names in Nova Scotia
Baby's
Most Chosen Names in Saskatchewan
Baby
Boy's Names in Alberta
Baby
Girl's Names in Alberta
Baby's
Most Chosen Name in British Columbia
Most
Popular baby names in the last 120 years
Charts:
Organizational
Charts Form
Letter
Form
ASSESSMENT
|
Level
1 |
Level
2 |
Level
3 |
Level
4 |
Sort
and Organize Data |
I gathered some data for one province by identifying
some popular names.
|
I gathered all data for one province by identifying
the 20 most popular names. |
I organized the correct data for most provinces
by identifying the 20 most popular names. |
I gathered the correct data for all provinces
by identifying the 20 most popular names. |
Create
a Graph |
I created a graph but had some difficulty finding
a good scale. |
I created one graph using a good scale. |
I created several graphs using a good scale for
each one. |
I created graphs for each set of data and used
the same scale for each one. |
Interpret
and Describe Data |
I described my graph. I recommended 20 names
that may not be related to the graph. |
I described the graphs and chose one to find
the 20 most popular names. |
I clearly explained the graphs. I interpreted
the graphs correctly to recommend 20 names. |
I clearly explained the patterns in the graphs
and used data from all the graphs to recommend 20 names. |
|