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Year 8

Understanding the median

I can understand what the median is measuring, how it is measuring it and find the median from data presented in a list.

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New
New
Year 8

Understanding the median

I can understand what the median is measuring, how it is measuring it and find the median from data presented in a list.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The median is a measure of central tendency.
  2. The median is the middle (or average middle) value in an ordered data set.
  3. The median can be seen as the halfway point of a set of values.

Common misconception

Pupils may confuse the position of the median with the median's actual value.

Choose data where the position number would not be a reasonable median value and ensure pupils sense check their answers every time.

Keywords

  • Median - the central (middle) piece of data when the data is in numerical order. A measure of central tendency representing the average of the values

Have the pupils line up in height order, then sit them down one by one, until the median is located. Part way through you could ask who is the middle? What position are they in the line? This can help with the misconception as well.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Work out: $$ 943 - 528 $$ =
Correct Answer: 415, four hundred and fifteen
Q2.
Starting with the highest number, put the numbers in descending order.
1 - 860
2 - 842
3 - 835
4 - 831
5 - 830
6 - 819
Q3.
is exactly half way between 64 and 86.
Correct Answer: 75, seventy five, seventy-five
Q4.
The mean of 34 and 56 is .
Correct Answer: 45, fofty-five, forty five
Q5.
Starting with the lowest number, put the numbers in ascending order.
1 - 4.092
2 - 4.2
3 - 4.87
4 - 5
5 - 5.16
6 - 5.167
Q6.
A measure of tendency is a summary measure that attempts to describe a whole set of data with a single value that represents the middle or centre of its distribution.
Correct Answer: central

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
The median is the piece of data when the data are in numerical order. It is a measure of central tendency representing the average of the values.
Correct Answer: central, middle
Q2.
Match the number of data points with the position of the median.
Correct Answer:65 values,33rd position

33rd position

Correct Answer:66 values,33.5th position

33.5th position

Correct Answer:61 values,31st position

31st position

Correct Answer:68 values,34.5th position

34.5th position

Q3.
The median from this list: 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.8, 2.9 is .
Correct Answer: 2.65
Q4.
Which of these data sets can you find the median for?
Correct answer: 3, 7, 2, 8, 1, 9, 3, 5
cat, dog, rabbit, dog, dog, cat, cat, hamster, fish
Correct answer: -2, -5, -2, -7, -3, -6, -7.2
red, orange, yellow, blue, green, yellow, white, black, purple
Q5.
Sam wants to calculate the median of this data set. Is Sam's working correct?
An image in a quiz
Yes - the middle number has been identified
Correct answer: No - the data has not been ordered first
Q6.
Data is presented in a dot plot. The median value is .
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 4, four