The concept of the human birthday graph is introduced, where students arrange themselves according to their birth months. The process of interpreting and graphing the data is explained, emphasising the importance of scale and axes. The students are guided throughout the activity, receiving assistance as required. The activity ends with students graphing the data and reflecting on their work.

What is the human birthday graph?
The human birthday graph is a physical representation of the birthdays of students in a classroom. It involves organising students based on their birth months and days. It is a fun and interactive way to teach data organisation and graphing.

How is the human birthday graph created?
To create the human birthday graph, the teacher prepares cards with the names of the months and places them at the front of the room. The students then stand in the month they were born in, and within each month, they organise themselves in order of their birth dates.

How do students communicate their birth dates?
Students communicate their birth dates using signals instead of talking or whispering. This adds a fun and engaging element to the activity. The teacher encourages them to use signals to indicate their birth month and day.

What is the purpose of using signals instead of talking?
Using signals instead of talking helps students develop problem-solving skills and enhances their ability to communicate non-verbally. It adds an extra challenge to the activity and promotes a quiet and focused classroom environment.

What happens after the students organise themselves?
Once the students have organised themselves on the human birthday graph, the teacher asks one or two students to interpret the data. They may stand on a chair to get a better view and report the number of birthdays in each month.

How is the data represented on a graph?
After interpreting the data, the teacher instructs the students to graph the information they gathered. The students use grid paper, with at least 12 spaces along the bottom, to create a graph that represents the number of birthdays in each month.