1. Mathematics Lesson 1: Handling Data – Bar Charts
PLEASE NOTE:
Information on potential Assessment for Learning (AfL) strategies or Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities will appear in these notes in italics.
Instructions to the teacher, notes, or questions to discuss with the class will appear in these notes as normal text.

2. about bar charts and their features
Learning Intentions
We are learning…
about bar charts and their features
how bar charts can provide information about many different areas of life
how to interpret the information in bar charts
how to use given information to draw accurate bar charts
AfL
Share these AfL learning intentions with pupils in your introduction to the lesson.
Share and negotiate success criteria with pupils.
Examples of success criteria
Pupils will be able to:
describe the main features of a bar chart;
give examples of practical uses of bar charts;
analyse and explain the information in bar charts; and
use given data to create their own bar charts.

3. Features of bar charts Bar charts should have: a meaningful title
titles and data labelled on both axes
a vertical axis which starts at zero
spaces between each bar category
clear and suitable scales for each axis
AfL
This part of the lesson uses the following strategies:
effective questioning, for example ask pupils ‘Why should the vertical axis start at zero?’; and
scaffolding reflection by asking for feedback from pupils.
Discuss each of the bullet points on this slide.
Make sure pupils understand the following terms:
vertical axis;
horizontal axis;
axes; and
bar category.

4. Interpreting bar charts: checklist
Use the checklist in Resource 1a to help you read, understand and explain the information in bar charts.
AfL
This part of the lesson uses the following strategies:
effective questioning; and
scaffolding reflection by asking for feedback from pupils.
Give pupils copies of Resource 1a (Checklist for interpreting bar charts).
Talk through each item in the checklist.
Make sure pupils understand the following terms used in the checklist:
interpret;
measures; and
frequencies.

5. Sugar content of cereal bars
AfL
This part of the lesson uses the following strategies:
effective questioning; and
scaffolding reflection by asking for feedback from pupils.
Give pupils a copy of Resource 1b, which has a printed copy of this chart.
Ask pupils what sort of graph or chart this is.
Pupils will interpret the information in this bar chart in the task on the next slide.

6. Interpreting bar charts
Write a paragraph about the graph in Resource 1b, using the following information to help you.
Claim: ‘Cereal bars are a healthy snack.’
Fact: a small chocolate bar contains approximately 25 g of sugar.
Fact: recommendations suggest that adults should have no more than 30 g of sugar per day.
AfL
This part of the lesson uses the following strategies:
scaffolding reflection
by asking for feedback from pupils; and
by encouraging peer and self-assessment.
Ask pupils to interpret the bar chart in Resource 1b (Sugar content of cereal bars), using the specific task instructions on the resource sheet. Get them to work in pairs to write a paragraph commenting on the claim on the slide.
Tell them to use the following to write their paragraph:
the facts on the slide;
the information presented in the bar chart in Resource 1b; and
the checklist in Resource 1a.
Make sure pupils understand the difference between claims and facts before completing this task.

7. Interpreting bar charts
The bar graph shows that the cereal bar with most sugar is Oats’n’fruit with 18 g of sugar. This means that it has almost as much sugar as a chocolate bar. The one with least sugar is Healthy Bar with 5 g of sugar. Oats’n’fruit has nearly four times as much sugar as Healthy Bar. Four out of the six cereal bars contain over half the recommended daily amount of sugar. Even the one lowest in sugar may not be healthy – you would need to know more information about the other ingredients before you could say that.
AfL
This part of the lesson uses the following strategies:
effective questioning; and
scaffolding reflection
by asking for feedback from pupils; and
by encouraging peer and self-assessment.
Once pupils have completed their task in pairs, show them the model answer on this slide.

8. 14–16 year olds learning two or more foreign languages
AfL
This part of the lesson uses the following strategies:
effective questioning; and
scaffolding reflection by asking for feedback from pupils.
Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities
In Worksheet 1, pupils have the opportunity to develop the following skills:
Thinking, Problem-Solving and Decision-Making;
Managing Information; and
Being Creative.
Introduce the bar chart to the class.
Ask pupils to write a paragraph interpreting this bar graph. Remind them to use the checklist in Resource 1a to help them.
This particular chart comes from the website Eurostat: Statistics Explained. To view the source statistics, visit and search for the article ‘Foreign language learning statistics’.
Once pupils have finished interpreting this bar graph, give them a copy of Worksheet 1 and ask them to complete it.