Classroom activity Grade 6 Health & Consumer Science
Vireo PE Hydration Relay: A Grade 6 Fill-and-Track Station Game
A grade 6 PE station game where students log the ounces of water they drink between activity rounds, then summarize the class data with mean, median, and range.
Objectives
- Students will record the ounces of water they drink across four activity rounds.
- Students will summarize the class water-intake data using mean, median, and range.
Vocabulary
Key words: hydration, mean, median, range
Teacher overview
This is a whole-class physical education game for 20 to 30 students, run as a relay across four movement stations with a water break after each round. The body loses water through sweat during exercise, so replacing it keeps students from tiring early. The activity teaches the math directly: each water break is one data point, and by the end the class has a full data set of how many ounces each student drank, which the class then summarizes with mean, median, and range. Students see their own bodies produce the numbers they analyze.
Activity Directions
- Before class, set up four movement stations with cones (for example: jog in place, jumping jacks, side shuffles, high knees). Put a refill station and a class tally chart where everyone can reach them.
- Give each student a recording slip and have them write their name at the top. Explain that after each round they will drink some water and write down how many ounces they drank that round. Tell students to drink only as much as feels comfortable, because this is not a contest to drink the most.
- Round 1: students move through one station for two minutes, then take a water break and record the ounces they drank. Remind them to record honestly, since the class will use the real numbers.
- Repeat for Rounds 2, 3, and 4, rotating stations each time, so every student has four recorded amounts by the end.
- Each student adds their four amounts to find their own total ounces for the class period and writes it on their slip.
- Collect the totals onto the class tally chart on the board, so the whole data set is visible in one place.
- As a class, count the number of observations, then find the mean, the median, and the range of the totals. If the class needs a reference, model each step once on the board using the practice set on the Student Handout before working with the class's own totals.
- End the game once the class has calculated all three measures. Gather students to complete the numbered questions on the Student Handout.
Student Handout
Work through the practice set below before you calculate the same three measures for your own class data. These nine numbers are one small group's total ounces of water for the class period: 12, 14, 15, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23 ounces. Use this practice set to answer questions 1 through 3, then answer the two questions that follow.
- What is the mean of the nine totals in the practice set? Add all nine amounts, divide the sum by 9, and round to the nearest tenth of an ounce.
- What is the median of the nine totals? Put the amounts in order from least to greatest and name the middle value.
- What is the range of the nine totals? Subtract the smallest total from the largest total.
- Do the mean and the median describe a typical student in the practice set well? Explain your reasoning in one or two sentences.
- Should a student drink more water on a day with harder, longer activity than on an easier day? Explain why, using what happens to the body during exercise.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
Use this sample set of 9 student totals to model the calculations before students use their own class data: 12, 14, 15, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23 ounces. (Suppose these are one small group's totals.)
- Answer: 16.7 ounces. The nine totals add to 150 ounces, and 150 divided by 9 is about 16.7 ounces, which is the mean.
- Answer: 16 ounces. With nine values in order, the fifth value is the middle one, so the median is 16 ounces.
- Answer: 11 ounces. The largest total, 23, minus the smallest total, 12, equals a range of 11 ounces.
- Debrief answer: Either the mean or the median near 16 to 17 ounces describes a typical student well here, because the values are fairly evenly spread with no extreme outlier pulling one measure far from the other.
- Debrief answer: Students should drink more on high-activity days because the body loses more water through sweat during exercise, and replacing that water helps prevent early tiredness and cramps.
Differentiation
Support
Give students a recording slip with the four round boxes and a total box already labeled, and pair students who need help adding their four amounts. Provide a filled-in example slip so the recording step is clear before Round 1.
Extension
Ask students to compare the class median from a low-activity day to a high-activity day and predict, in writing, how the mean and range would change if the stations were made more intense, then check their prediction with a second round of data.
ELL supports
Post picture icons for each station and pair the words "mean," "median," and "range" with a simple labeled example on the board. Allow students to record amounts with numbers only and to give debrief answers orally or with a sentence frame.