Averaging with Unifix Cubes

Unifix cubes are one of my favorite math manipulatives. I especially love to use them when averaging.

In the "old days," when I was an elementary student, I was told that to average, you add up all the numbers and divide by the number of groups to get the average. Not surprisingly,

I HAD NO IDEA WHAT THAT MEANT!

OR WHAT IT HAD TO DO WITH AVERAGING!

I first used unifix cubes to average when I taught "Measurement with Marbles," one of my FAVORITE math units that's now FREE from the Math Learning Center. I hope you enjoy that unit and my little videos on Averaging with Unifix Cubes.

Note: Due to video time limitations I could not show multiple ways to level the towers. When you work with children, however, I encourage you to help kids understand the idea of averaging by giving them 2 stacks, and then 3 stacks of cubes, and asking them to devise methods to level the towers. If we just TELL them what to do rather than allowing them to devise their own strategies, we're really just giving them a different version of my childhood experience (where I had no idea WHY I was doing what I was doing.) Give them some cubes and a little time for productive struggle! :)

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Part 2:

Dooby, Dooby, Moo: No Average Math Book

This ain't no average averaging.

We LOVE the book Dooby, Dooby, Moo by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin and regularly giggle over the eccentric group of farm animals who take their talents to the county fair to compete. Throughout the story, illustrations show the animals receiving scores for their performances. For example, when the cows sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"* they receive the following ratings:

8 (from a human judge)
8.2 (from a dog)
2 (from a man)
1.2 (from a grumpy-looking cat)

What an opportunity to do a little averaging! During the sheeps' rendition of "Home on the Range," it notes that "Three of the [four] judges were clearly impressed." Scores of  9, 9.1, and 8.9 are followed by the cat's score, 2.3, providing an opportunity to talk about outliers!

This is no average math lesson! For more children's lit/math books, see THE LIST.



*"Dooby, dooby, dooby moo. Dooby moo, moo, moo, moo, moo." My kids think it's hilarious when I sing this!

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