Skill companion: Connecting and Analysing Data (Year 9)

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Skill companion · Year 9 Science Inquiryseegongsik /au

Connecting and Analysing Data: a skill companion

A small set of reusable sheets that grow one inquiry skill: bringing two or more data sets together so a relationship neither shows on its own comes into view, naming the patterns, trends, relationships and anomalies in them, and explaining each with science. Print the scaffolds once and slot them into the science lessons you already teach.

AC9S9I05

analyse and connect a variety of data and information to identify and explain patterns, trends, relationships and anomalies

What a skill companion is

Inquiry skills are not a topic of their own. They grow inside the science units a class teaches all year, from Body Systems to Chemical Equations. So this pack is not a full term of lessons. It is three reusable scaffolds, a map of where they fit, and a short stand-alone lesson for teaching the skill on its own first.

Start here: five minutes

Read the pairing map on the next page: it shows two connected data sets for each topic.
Print the data connector whenever a class has two sets of data, and the sealed-jar sheet as a worked practice.
Cut out the cards once. They are reused all year.
Open the free interactive unit on your board when you want a worked example of the skill.
Run the one-page mini-lesson first if you want to teach the skill before folding it into a topic.

The step up from Year 8

In Year 8 students read one data set for its trend and spotted the reading that did not fit. In Year 9 they connect data sets: energy in beside energy out, light beside carbon dioxide, a measurement beside published records. The relationship lives between the sets, and an anomaly is now a reading that breaks the connection. Each one is explained with a science model, not only described.

On the board

This pack is the printable half of a free interactive unit. On screen, students read “Energy fed into six devices” beside “Useful energy each device delivers”, click the run that breaks the pattern in “Find the run that breaks the connected pattern”, and sort statements in “Which explanations does the connected data support?”.

seegongsik.com/au/y9/inquiry/AC9S9I05

Aligned to the Australian Curriculum V9 (AC9S9I05). This pack is original material from seegongsik, independently produced and not endorsed by ACARA. Curriculum content descriptors are (c) ACARA, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Free to print and use in class.

Where the skill fitsPairing map

Slot the skill into your science lessons

Every Year 9 topic has two data sets worth connecting. This map shows a pair in each topic, what connecting them reveals, and an anomaly that would break the connection.

When you teach	Data set 1	Data set 2	Connecting them reveals	An anomaly to watch for
Body Systems and Negative Feedback (AC9S9U01)	Heart rate during and after exercise	Breathing rate at the same times	Both rise and fall together: the body supplies working muscles with oxygen	A pulse counted for 15 seconds but not multiplied by four
Reproduction in Animals and Plants (AC9S9U02)	Leaves left on each cutting	Roots after two weeks	More leaves, more roots, up to a point	A cutting that rotted in the water
The Carbon Cycle (AC9S9U03)	Carbon dioxide in a sealed jar with a plant	Light on the jar at the same times	Carbon dioxide falls in the light and rises in the dark	A jump when the lid was lifted
Wave and Particle Models of Energy (AC9S9U04)	How far a slinky is stretched	The time a pulse takes to cross it	The tighter the slinky, the quicker the pulse	A pulse started with a much bigger flick
Conservation of Energy and Efficiency (AC9S9U05)	Energy fed into each device	Useful energy each device delivers	Efficiency, which neither data set shows alone	Useful output above the input
The Atom and Radioactive Decay (AC9S9U06)	Dice left after each throw	The number of dice at the start of each run	The same share goes each throw, whatever the start	A run where the sixes were not removed
Chemical Equations and Conservation of Mass (AC9S9U07)	Bicarbonate of soda added	Mass the open cup loses	A steady ratio until the vinegar runs out	A spill that makes the cup lose extra mass

The three moves, and the picture that backs each one

When you want a worked example on the board, open the interactive unit and use the picture that matches the move.

Connect two data sets to find a relationship: “Energy fed into six devices” beside “Useful energy each device delivers”.
Flag the reading that breaks the connection: “Find the run that breaks the connected pattern”.
Explain only what the connected data supports: “Which explanations does the connected data support?”.

Scaffold 1 · Data connectorOne per student

Two data sets, one relationship

NameClassDate

A relationship often lives between two data sets, not inside one. Connect them by something they share (the same times, the same objects or the same places), work out a number that uses both, then name what you see and explain it with science.

The two sources

Data set 1: what, and how it was collected
Data set 2: what, and how it was collected
What links them (the same times, objects or places)

Connect them

A number that uses both (a difference, a ratio, a rate):

Name what you see

A trend or pattern (one variable over time):

A relationship (two variables changing together):

An anomaly (which reading, and how far off):

Explain it

The science that explains the relationship:

The likely cause of the anomaly, and what I would check:

Another explanation I have not ruled out:

Teacher note: an anomaly is flagged and explained, and the reading is rechecked or repeated; it is not deleted. A relationship found by connecting two data sets does not on its own show that one causes the other.

Scaffold 2 · One jar, two data setsOne per student

Light and carbon dioxide in a sealed jar

NameClassDate

A pot plant was sealed in a large clear jar with a carbon dioxide sensor. A lamp on a timer lit it from 6 am to 6 pm, and a light meter beside the jar logged the light. Both were read every two hours for a day.

Time	12 am	2 am	4 am	6 am	8 am	10 am	12 pm	2 pm	4 pm	6 pm	8 pm	10 pm
Light (lux)	0	0	0	200	900	1600	2000	1600	900	200	0	0
CO₂ (ppm)	540	580	620	650	640	580	490	610	545	545	585	625
Change

A. Connect the two

Fill the change in carbon dioxide since the reading before. Read each change beside the light at the same time.

B. Pattern, relationship, anomaly

In the dark, every two hours, carbon dioxide

In the light, the brighter the lamp,

The reading that breaks the connection, and its likely cause:

C. Explain the whole day

Use photosynthesis and respiration. Why does carbon dioxide hardly change between 4 and 6 pm?

Scaffold 3 · Finding cards (cut out)Reuse all year

Trend or pattern, relationship, or anomaly?

Cut out the cards. Lay down the three grey heading cards, then sort the findings under them. On the blank cards, write a finding from your own data for each heading.

Trend or patternHow one variable changes over time, or repeats.Heading

RelationshipHow two variables change together.Heading

AnomalyOne reading that breaks the pattern or the relationship.Heading

The higher the drop, the higher the bounce.Card A

Carbon dioxide in the air at a monitoring station is higher each year than the year before.Card B

One run of the kettle delivered 18 units of useful heat, while four others gave 26 to 27.Card C

The more bicarbonate of soda added, the more mass the open cup loses, up to 5 g.Card D

Inside the sealed jar, carbon dioxide rises every night and falls every day.Card E

A heart rate climbs for the first minute of skipping, then stays level.Card F

One cutting with four leaves grew no roots, while the other nine grew five to eight.Card G

The brighter the light, the faster the carbon dioxide in the jar falls.Card H

Across ten throws, the number of dice left keeps falling.Card I

At 2 pm, carbon dioxide in the sealed jar jumped up while the lamp was bright.Card J

Each spring, seedlings come up in the school garden.Card K

The longer the skip, the longer the heart rate takes to return to resting.Card L

A finding that is a trend or pattern:

Write your own

A finding that is a relationship:

Write your own

A finding that is an anomaly:

Write your own

Teacher note: the piles are not the same size. The answer sheet lists which card is which, and why.

Mini-lesson · Teacher planAbout 30 minutes

Pulse and breath: two data sets, one body

Use this stand-alone lesson to teach the skill on its own, before you fold it into a science topic. Each student counts their pulse and their breaths at rest and after a minute of step-ups. Either data set alone shows a rise; connected, student by student, they show a relationship: the bigger the rise in pulse, the bigger the rise in breathing, because the heart and the lungs work together to supply working muscles with oxygen.

We are learning to

connect two data sets that share the same students and times,
tell a trend, a relationship and an anomaly apart in connected data,
explain a relationship with a science model, and say what it does not show.

Success criteria

I can describe the relationship between the rise in pulse and the rise in breathing for our class.
I can find a reading that breaks it, and suggest why.

You need

a sturdy step or the bottom stair for each group, and a stopwatch or the classroom clock,
the data connector (scaffold 1), one per student, and the cards from scaffold 3, one set per table. Step-ups are light exercise; any student with a health condition, or who would rather not, times and records instead.

Lesson flow (about 30 minutes)

5 min	At rest Students count their pulse at the wrist for 30 seconds and their breaths for 30 seconds, and double each. Ask: “Why double a 30-second count instead of counting for 15 seconds and multiplying by four?”
5 min	After step-ups One minute of gentle step-ups, then the same two counts at once. Each student works out their two rises. Ask: “Which data set did you collect, and which did your partner collect? Are they from the same moments?”
15 min	Connect the class The class lists each student’s two rises on the board (initials or numbers only). Students fill the data connector; tables sort the cards. Show the board (see the box). Ask: “Whose point sits far from the rest? What could explain it before we call it wrong?”
5 min	Explain it Pairs explain the relationship with the body’s systems, and say what else could make two students differ (fitness, how hard they stepped).

Running it shorter? Collect the two data sets, and connect them in your next science lesson.

On the board

For a worked example, open the unit and read “Energy fed into six devices” beside “Useful energy each device delivers”, then click the run that breaks the pattern in “Find the run that breaks the connected pattern”.

seegongsik.com/au/y9/inquiry/AC9S9I05

Watch for these ideas

Calling every change over time a relationship: a relationship links two variables.
Deleting an anomaly instead of checking the reading and explaining it.
Reading the relationship as proof that breathing faster makes the heart beat faster.

Make it easier, make it bigger

Easier: give a scatter plot already scaled for rise in pulse against rise in breathing.
Bigger: add a third data set, the time each student took to recover, and look for a second relationship.

Answers and look-fors

The next sheet has the worked sealed-jar analysis, the card key, what a good data connector sounds like, and a quick three-level guide. Keep class data to initials or numbers, and never display a student’s health data by name.

Answers · For the teacherModel responses

Answers and look-fors

One jar, two data sets

Changes since the reading before: 2 am +40, 4 am +40, 6 am +30, 8 am −10, 10 am −60, 12 pm −90, 2 pm +120, 4 pm −65, 6 pm 0, 8 pm +40, 10 pm +40 (ppm). In the dark, carbon dioxide rises by 40 ppm every two hours: the plant only respires. In the light it falls, and the brighter the lamp, the faster it falls (−10 from 6 to 8 am, −60 from 8 to 10 am, −90 from 10 am to 12 pm): photosynthesis takes in carbon dioxide faster than respiration gives it out. The anomaly is 2 pm: a rise of 120 ppm under a bright lamp, where every bright reading fell. Lifting the lid to water the plant let in room air, breathed on by the waterer. Flag it and explain it; do not delete it. Between 4 and 6 pm the dim light lets photosynthesis take in about as much carbon dioxide as respiration gives out, so it barely changes.

Finding cards

Card	Finding	Pile	Why
A	The higher the drop, the higher the bounce.	Relationship	Two variables, drop height and bounce height, change together.
B	Carbon dioxide in the air at a monitoring station is higher each year than the year before.	Trend or pattern	One variable changing over time.
C	One run of the kettle delivered 18 units of useful heat, while four others gave 26 to 27.	Anomaly	One run breaks a steady pattern.
D	The more bicarbonate of soda added, the more mass the open cup loses, up to 5 g.	Relationship	Mass added and mass lost change together.
E	Inside the sealed jar, carbon dioxide rises every night and falls every day.	Trend or pattern	A repeating pattern over time.
F	A heart rate climbs for the first minute of skipping, then stays level.	Trend or pattern	One variable over time: a rise, then a level.
G	One cutting with four leaves grew no roots, while the other nine grew five to eight.	Anomaly	One case far from the rest of its group.
H	The brighter the light, the faster the carbon dioxide in the jar falls.	Relationship	Light level and the rate of fall change together.
I	Across ten throws, the number of dice left keeps falling.	Trend or pattern	One variable over a sequence of throws.
J	At 2 pm, carbon dioxide in the sealed jar jumped up while the lamp was bright.	Anomaly	A rise where every bright reading fell.
K	Each spring, seedlings come up in the school garden.	Trend or pattern	A pattern that repeats each year.
L	The longer the skip, the longer the heart rate takes to return to resting.	Relationship	Skipping time and recovery time change together.

Data connector: what a good response sounds like

For the mini-lesson: data set 1 is each student’s rise in pulse, data set 2 the rise in breathing, linked by the same students at the same moments. A connecting number is each student’s pair of rises, plotted as one point. Relationship: the bigger the rise in pulse, the bigger the rise in breathing. Explanation: working muscles need more oxygen, so the heart pumps blood faster and the lungs breathe faster to supply it. An anomaly, such as a pulse rise of zero, is checked first: was the count taken at once, and for the full 30 seconds? Another explanation not yet ruled out: fitter students may rise less in both, so fitness could drive part of the pattern.

A quick three-level guide

Move	Working towards	At standard	Beyond
Connect the data	reads each data set on its own	links two data sets by shared times, objects or places, and works a number from both	connects three or more sources, including secondary data
Name what is there	calls every change a trend	tells a trend or pattern, a relationship and an anomaly apart	judges how strong a relationship is, and how far off an anomaly is
Explain it	describes the data without a reason	explains the relationship with a science model and suggests a cause for the anomaly	names another explanation, and what would test between them

A student at standard connects two data sets, names the trend, the relationship and the anomaly correctly, and explains each with science. The skill grows all year, so bring the data connector back whenever there are two sets of data.