TIMS Laboratory Investigations
Classification
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(ISBN 0-7872-4008-7, primary, intermediate, & middle): A generic grab bag that can be modified for use with many different objects.
Pets
(ISBN 0-7872-4009-5, primary): An early, teacher-led lab where
the type of pet is the manipulated variable, and the number of
children in the class with a type of pet is the responding variable.
Data is bar graphed. Children discuss how location (city vs. country)
may affect their results.
Color
(ISBN 0-7872-4010-9, primary): The students pull different-colored
objects from a container. (For example, the objects could be Skittles
or Unifix cubes, and the “grabber” could be a hand or a spoon.)
The objects are sorted by color, and the number of each color
is counted. The children learn to look for the two primary variables,
manipulated and responding, with color as the former and number
as the latter. They learn that variables have values like red,
green, blue for color and 1, 2, 5, 9 for number. The children
learn that the number variable can be determined only by actually
carrying out the experiment. The children make a data table and
record the values of each variable and plot a bar graph of Color
vs. Number. The questions probe the children’s adding and subtracting
skills as they learn how many total pieces they collected, how
many more green than yellow they had, how many objects were not
of a particular color, etc. We ask what would happen if their
teacher grabbed a handful of objects; would the total number change,
would the numbers of each color change, would there still be more
red than green? Here, the children sharpen their estimation skills.
The lab provides an introduction to the TIMS Laboratory Method
and an experience in early mathematics applications where the
children use their own data.
Weather
(ISBN 0-7872-4011-7, primary): At the same time each day for a
month, starting on the first of the month, the children look out
of the window and decide whether it is a sunny day, a cloudy day,
or a partly cloudy day. The manipulated variable is the Type of
Day with the above three values. The responding variable is the
number of each type of day for that month. The children keep a
running record of their data in a Weather Month Chart. At the
end of the month, the children transfer their data to a data table
and make a bar graph of the Type of Day vs. Number. We challenge
the children to use addition and subtraction to find out how many
sunny and partly cloudy days there were, whether these were more
than half of all days, how many more cloudy days there were than
sunny days, and what their data would look like if they carried
out the investigation for two months. We would end by asking the
children to predict what their data would look like in six months
or if they lived in another part of the country. Thus the children
learn the important idea that other variables can affect their
results.
Shape
(ISBN 0-7872-4012-5, primary): Basic geometric shapes are everywhere.
With a keen eye and a little imagination, one can find triangles
and circles in birds, snails, leaves, and houses. Plane geometry
deals with the properties of shapes in two dimensions; solid geometry
with properties of shapes in three dimensions. In this experiment
we shall concentrate on a few basic plain geometric shapes—circles,
triangles, squares, and rectangles. The children grab a handful
of shapes out of a container and count the number of each. We
shall continue with the scientific skills of identifying the manipulated
and responding variables, of drawing pictures (of the shapes),
of collecting and recording data, and of graphing the results.
We continue to get the children to use their math skills without
pointing out which skill we want them to use. They will determine
the total number of shapes, how many more of one kind they have
than another, whether any of the shapes total more than one half
the total, etc. They will decide which shape is most common and
which is least common. At the end of the investigation, the children
will hunt up some of the above shapes in nature and in their neighborhood.
Healthy Grab
(ISBN 0-7872-4013-3, primary & intermediate): Healthy Grab originated
as a first-grade investigation at a Chicago school. Since the
kids eat so much junk food, the teacher decided to make a grab
bag of health foods. Seeds are perfect. Some societies and lots
of animals obtain all of their nourishment from eating seeds.
The seeds contain concentrated energy which makes them so valuable
to eat. Initially, we chose almond, pistachio, pumpkin, sunflower,
and sesame seeds. But the sesame seeds were so small and the kids
pulled out so many that they “went crazy trying to count them
all.” Out went sesame seeds and in went raisins—not a seed, but
a fruit. This variety allows you to talk about what seeds grow
into plants, trees, flowers, and vines, and that seeds are often
contained in the fruits of plants. The children draw pictures
of the objects, grab, sort and count them, record their results,
and make a bar graph. We give them lots of addition and subtraction
problems, we have the children work on the concepts of 1/2 and
1/4—and they predict what would happen if they made a second grab—and
then check their prediction. The experiment has a bit of everything
in it: from inductive logic to sorting large numbers of objects,
to adding, subtracting, doubling, dividing into halves, and not
the least, learning about seeds.
Car Color
(ISBN 0-7872-4014-1, primary): Car Color is an outdoor, consumer-oriented
investigation. On a nice May day, the class goes for a walk around
the school block, and each child tallies the number of cars of
a particular agreed-upon set of colors. The manipulated variable
is the car color, the responding variable is the number of cars
of each color. The children draw a picture (in color, of course)
of the investigation, record and graph the data, and answer lots
of questions about the number of different colors, which colors
are most popular and least popular, whether any are more or less
than half the total, etc. Then each child uses the school data
to predict the distribution of car colors in the block around
his or her house, checks the predictions, and sees how close he
or she came to being good predictors. In the 1920’s Henry Ford
said, “You can have any color you want as long as it’s black.”
As the children will find out in Car Color, that is no longer
true.
The Martians I
(ISBN 0-7872-4015-X, primary & intermediate): An open-ended, end-of-the-year
lab where the children display what they learned about collecting
data and writing up a TIMS report. Each child pretends that he
or she is a Martian who has taken an earthling-look-alike pill
and picks one variable to study, like type of shirt, or birth
month. On their own they collect the data, draw a picture, make
and fill in a data table, draw the graph, and determine if the
data will be different in 6 months.
Kind of Bean
(ISBN 0-7872-4016-8, primary & intermediate): Kind of Bean is
an early investigation with two goals in mind. The first is to
review or introduce the essentials of the four steps of the TIMS
laboratory method. The second is to introduce some basics in statistics
and probability, in particular, the concept of “taking a sample.”
In this lab, each team of students takes a spoonful of assorted
dry beans from a container. They sort the beans by kind. Once
the beans are sorted and counted, the students organize, graph,
and analyze their data. The latter includes questions using addition,
subtraction, and learning which kind of bean was most common,
which kind was least common, etc. We hope that a successful experience
with this lab will establish a solid foundation in the TIMS method.
Candy Jungle
(ISBN 0-7872-4017-6, primary & intermediate): When biologists
look at a rain forest, they see a myriad of variables. There are
the types of animals, the types of plants, their location, their
color, and size. A good scientist will gather information on all
these variables and will sort and plot them in the most useful
way possible. Going from just one manipulated variable, say, color
or type of animal to even two manipulated variables, color and
type of animal, can be a big jump for the scientist and for the
children. But the world of science is not the world of one variable—so
we begin here to move on to more complicated situations. In this
experiment the two manipulated variables will be color and type
of object, for example, colored Gummy Bears and M&M’s candy. Lots
of these are mixed in a bowl. The children are now ready to explore
the candy jungle. Just like a real jungle, one cannot sample the
whole candy jungle. So, to keep that spirit of real science, we
allow the children only one scoop to make their discoveries. Will
they discover all the colors, the two types of objects, which
type dominates the jungle, which color wins? The children will
need two data tables and two graphs, each set up to display the
maximum amount of information. There is plenty of addition and
subtraction in the lab, and we make our first stab at ratio reasoning.
Yes, it’s a jungle out there.
The Martians II
(ISBN 0-7872-4018-4, primary & intermediate): A year later the
children have once again taken their earthling-look-alike pills
and returned to Earth. In this open-ended lab the children have
to pick two variables to study, for example, color of eyes and
gender. The challenge is to organize the two (or more) data tables
so that one can answer such questions as, “How many blue-eyed
boys are there?” The children are on their own as they collect
the data, make up the data tables, and fill in the graphs.
Classy Clothes
(ISBN 0-7872-4019-2, primary & intermediate): This experiment
is similar to Candy Jungle because again there are two manipulated
variables, this time the type of clothing and the color. But in
Classy Clothes we ask for three types of clothes with about seven
different colors. Consequently, the children will need three data
tables and three graphs in order to describe their results fully.
This is a whole class experiment so the children must work cooperatively
to gather their data. In this investigation, the children will
not only learn about how colors are distributed for each type
of clothing, but will learn how to sum over their data to see
which colors are most popular, which are least, which occur more
than half the time, etc. They also predict how other variables
might affect their results, such as carrying out the experiment
in a different grade, or six months later, or in a different country.
Classy Clothes is the second lab in which there are multiple manipulated
variables. The children are focused on how to organize and analyze
this complexity of data and to interpret the data at several levels.
Searching the Forest
(ISBN 0-7872-4020-6, intermediate): When a scientist confronts
something, e.g., the size of a rain forest, he or she cannot count
every animal or plant. So, the scientist does the next best thing,
and takes a sample in hopes that the sample will reflect the whole.
By taking several samples and doing some averaging, the scientist
becomes more confident in his or her results. That is what we
shall do in this investigation, look at multiple samplings and
predict something about the whole by looking at a smaller, more
accessible part. The children determine the number of each color
of object (say M&M’s candy) in their grab bags using only a small
scoop. The number of colors are carefully prepared by the teacher
to be in whole-number ratios. Estimating, averaging, and using
proportion all come into play as the children move from their
small scoops to hypothetical bigger scoops to their full grab
bags. It is rather amazing what one can do with a little bit of
sampling and some basic math.
Divide and Conquer
(ISBN 0-7872-4021-4, intermediate): Plastic pieces of four different
colors, two sizes, and three shapes are placed in the grab bag.
The challenge is to sort, tabulate, and plot these three manipulated
variables so that one can obtain a maximum amount of information.
The result is 6 (or more) data tables and 6 graphs! The children
also sum over each manipulated variable and reduce the data to
3 tables. We explore what information is lost when one sums the
data. Candy Jungle, The Martians II, and Classy Clothes are similar
investigations, but with two manipulated variables.
Trees
(ISBN 0-7872-4022-2, intermediate): The children make a count
of the type of trees in a block around their school and on the
block where each lives. Distributions of type of trees and the
average number of types of trees in a block are determined. These
results are used to predict the number of different types of trees
in a 12-block area. The children are asked to find reasons for
local variations in the type of trees. Geometrical shapes of leaves
are studied, and distributions of shapes are determined.
How Many Bats in a Cave?
(ISBN 0-7872-4023-0, intermediate): A key sampling technique called
tagging is studied in this lab. A bowl of about 200 M&M’s candy
(or equivalent) is prepared. The children remove a handful and
replace some of these with a special tagged M&M. After thoroughly
mixing the tagged and untagged M&M’s, the children withdraw a
scoop full of M&M’s and use proportional reasoning to estimate
the total number of M&M’s (bats) in their grab bag (cave). Based
on their results, the children are challenged to solve problems
involving bats in caves and fish in lakes.
Cars
(ISBN 7872-4024-9, intermediate & middle): In this open-ended
lab, the class collects data on the size, color, and continent
of origin of cars in their neighborhood. Like Divide and Conquer,
the children have to organize their data in an unambiguous way.
The children use proportions and percents to answer questions
about their data. They also sum over the 3 manipulated variables
and use the summed data to compare their neighborhood distributions
to national data.
Back to TIMS Laboratory Investigations Home Page
Copyright © 1997 by Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company
Copyright © 1999 Institute for Mathematics and Science Education.
All rights reserved.
UIC—University of Illinois at Chicago