The following resource has been kindly shared on the TES Maths website. It is available to download for free by registering. And to access all the lovely Resource of the Week (ROTW) resources, just click here

What is it?
One of the main headlines when the new GCSE specifications were announced at the end of 2014 was the arrival of two brand new topics: Frequency Tress and Venn Diagrams. Venn Diagrams have not appeared on a GCSE (or age equivalent) specification for many years, and in the case of Frequency Trees many teachers (including myself) were left wondering exactly what they were. Fortunately, the wonderful users of the TES Maths Website have stepped in, and produced some top quality resources. We will look at Venn Diagrams next week, but for now feast your eyes upon this lovely Frequency Trees resource. It turns out that Frequency Trees are a fairly logical (and dare I say, useful?) way of representing data. It’s the kind of data that normally gets presented in two-way tables, but now finds itself on something that to the untrained eye may resemble a probability tree diagram!

How can it be used?
This resource contains a PowerPoint with several well-chosen example with worked solutions. Then there are a set of differentiated worksheets and homework activities. The “red” sheet has some particularly challenging questions that combine fractions, decimals, percentages and probability. It really is all you need to introduce your Year 9 (the first year who will be taking the new GCSE) to the concept. And, of course, there is plenty of opportunity to flip it on its head and challenge the students to create their own frequency trees for each other to solve. If you are looking for an introduction into this brand new topic, then this is a great starting point.

Thank you for sharing!

Craig Barton

 

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