The displays below both show the distribution of weeks that animals spend at the shelter.

Notice and Wonder

A dot plot showing the distribution of weeks animals spend at the shelter

Histogram for the weeks column of the animals dataset

1 What do you Notice about the dot plot (left) and the histogram (right)? What do you Wonder?

Dot Plots versus Histograms

Answer the questions below using only the dot plot, and then only the histogram. If you cannot answer a question precisely, write "X".

Question Dot Plot Histogram

2 How many animals were in the shelter for fewer than 10 weeks?

3 How many animals were in the shelter for exactly 30 weeks?

4 What is the longest amount of time that an animal stayed in the shelter?

5 How many animals were in the shelter for at least 5 weeks but not more than 25?

6 Are there any gaps in the data?

7 Are there any peaks in the data?

Reflect

8 When you answered the questions using the dot plot:

  1. Which questions were easy to answer?

  2. Which questions were hard to answer?

  3. Which questions were impossible to answer?

9 When you answered the questions using the histogram:

  1. Which questions were easy to answer?

  2. Which questions were hard to answer?

  3. Which questions were impossible to answer?

10 When might a histogram be more useful than a dot plot?

11 When might a dot plot be more useful than a histogram?

These materials were developed partly through support of the National Science Foundation, (awards 1042210, 1535276, 1648684, 1738598, 2031479, and 1501927). CCbadge Bootstrap by the Bootstrap Community is licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 Unported License. This license does not grant permission to run training or professional development. Offering training or professional development with materials substantially derived from Bootstrap must be approved in writing by a Bootstrap Director. Permissions beyond the scope of this license, such as to run training, may be available by contacting contact@BootstrapWorld.org.