Surveys with Grade Twos Using Forms

Surveys with Grade Twos

As part of our data analysis unit in math this year, my students did surveys using Google Forms. The specific outcome from the Alberta math curriculum is: gather and record data about self and others to answer questions.

In Class Paper Surveys First

Students started with doing a paper survey in class first as a part of centres. We discussed how disruptive it was for the people being surveyed as they were constantly being interrupted. We discussed that doing a digital survey would allow people to do the survey when they had time. 

Planning Step

The first step I had my students do was plan their questions and answers on paper. I helped students edit and revise as necessary. 

Forms

This was the first time my students had made a form, so I led them through a step by step lesson of how to create a new form. To keep things simple, I had them select all the boxes for checkmarks at the top and have none selected at the bottom. Next time I would likely change these options. By selecting all the checkmarks at the top, it limited our surveys to EPSB staff and students only.

Email, Twitter, Google+

Once the students had completed their forms, they had to send it to me, so that I had the link. I created a page on my class website with link to all the surveys. I emailed, tweeted and posted the link the website to my contacts so that students would have more than just their peers answer. 

I also gave students time to answer their classmates surveys, which they enjoyed.

The Results Show

After a week or so, I had my students look at the results of their surveys. To do this, they opened their form again. At the top, they select Responses which had the number of people who had completed their survey in brackets. They then selected Summary of responses. This opens a new tab with a pie chart, percentages and whole numbers about the data. 

Students used the information from the Summary of responses page to answer questions about their survey: Reading Your Results. This was completed as a pencil and paper activity.

Weird

One weird thing that happened was the status bar. I told students that the status bar showed 100% when you had completed a survey, so it was a good way to keep track of which surveys you had answered and which you had not if you lost track. However, what we noticed is that it showed 100% as soon as they opened up a new survey to take.

Next Year

I will definitely do this again next year. It needs some refinement. I would love to hear tips and suggestions!