Multitasking is a buzzword for today?s work forc--but it?s also a skill that many students are learning to master (some better than others!). In this academic extension, students will answer a survey to learn more about how students multitask, and use the survey to create a bar graph to analyze the results.
 

Start off by asking one student to tally up the responses as you ask students the following question:
 

"While doing your homework, which of the following activities do you usually do at the same time?"
 

- Watch TV
- Listen to music
- Talk on the phone
- Use the computer in an unrelated task (e-mailing, playing games, etc.)
 

As you ask the group this question, have students raise their hand for each category for which their answer is yes. They can raise their hands for more than one category. The tallying student should write down how many hand are raised for each.
 

Now, we need to figure out how to show the results. Students will create a bar graph, which are great for visualizing an overall idea of trends in responses.
 

Students will need to draw an X-axis and Y-axis on their paper. (Make a big "L," with the Y being the vertical line, and the X being the horizontal line.) The Y-axis will be labeled "# of students." Have students mark intervals along the Y-axis, from 0 to the total number of students in the group. The X-axis will be labeled "Categories." Divide up the X-axis into the following: Watch TV, Listen to Music, Talk on the Phone, Use of Computer.
 

Once students have created their graph, have the student who tallied the responses read off the numbers for each category. For example, Watch TV might have gotten 15 hands raised. Students will make a bar that goes up to the number 15 in the Watch TV category. Continue with the rest of the categories.
 

What were the results? Talk about whether "multi-tasking" while doing homework helps or hinders the quality of their work.
 

Standards 

This activity supports: California Academic Content Standards - Mathematics - Three - Statistics, Data Analysis, & Probability.  Students conduct simple probability experiments by determining the number of possible outcomes and make simple predictions. Standard 1.3: Summarize and display the results of probability experiments in a clear and organized way (e.g., use a bar graph or a line plot).