Teachers' TV Lesson Plan

Title
Averages Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan Author

Stuart Hill

Associated Teachers’ TV Programme

KS3/4 Maths: Mean, Median and Mode

Programme Description
Ideas on putting maths into practice outside the classroom.

Note to Teachers
This lesson plan was not created by Teachers' TV but the author has allowed us to publish
it here to be used for educational purposes.
Aims:

1. How do we calculate the different averages?

2. In which situations is it best to use each of the averages?

Starter:

 Two sets of data on the board ready for the pupils of two different classes
exam marks – pupils NOT told what the data represents, however. Question
also written up is how can we compare the two different data sets
 What might the data sets represent and so why might we want to compare
them
 Discussion of numerical/graphical representations.

Main:

 Tell pupils that we will firstly focus on calculation of averages. Begin with
recap on the three main averages. Calculate the averages on the two data sets
from the starter activity
 Discuss which class performed better and why. How did the averages help us
decide and which was the best average to use?
 Initial discussion on advantages and disadvantages of each average
 After this, 3-4 different sets of data displayed on the board, and pupils asked to
calculate the different averages. Data sets are designed in the following way
for example:

1. Median = mean = mode

2. Median < mean < mode
3. Mode < mean < median
4. Data set with extreme values

 Once calculated, pupils encouraged to think

about the results they have just calculated, by answering questions such as:

o What do you notice about the different data sets?

o Which is the best/most meaningful average in each case?
o How else can we look at the data?

 Focus more on drawing the graphs of the

data sets. Which graphs can we use for this discrete data?
 Pupils then encouraged to draw bar charts of
their data sets and encouraged to comment on the shapes of the distributions,
and then looking again at their average calculations
 From this, pupils can begin to appreciate
skewness and understand which different averages are appropriate in different
circumstances
 Summing up of all important points covered
Plenary:

 Introduction to coding
 Find the mean of:

a. 1,2,3,4,5
b. 3,6,9,12,15
c. 6,7,8,9,10
d. 5,8,11,14,17

 How can we use the result for the first set of data to help us
calculate results for the next three sets of data?
 Investigate for different data sets and attempt to come up with a
rule that will explain your results.