Maryland Math 6.DS.B.5

Math6th GradeReasoning with Data and Statistics

The Standard

Interpret numerical data in plots on a number line, including line plots, histograms, and box plots.

Maryland College and Career Ready Standards for Mathematics (2025) · SUMMARIZE AND DESCRIBE DISTRIBUTIONS

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students read number scales to describe where data values fall and how spread out they are. They count marks on line plots, read groups of values in histograms, and use medians and quartiles in box plots.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can find how many values a line plot or histogram shows in a given range. They can identify the median and middle half of a box plot, and say when a plot does not show an exact value.
Common Misconceptions: Students may read a histogram bar’s height as a data value instead of a count. They may count a stack on a line plot as one value instead of counting every mark. They may think a box plot shows how many values fall at each number.
How to Assess It: Show a histogram with bins 0–4: 2 values, 5–9: 6 values, and 10–14: 3 values. Ask, “How many values are at least 5? Can you tell how many equal 7? Explain.”

Lesson moves

Have students place sticky notes for 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5 on a numbered tape, then count values above 3.
Show a box plot with minimum 2, quartiles 4 and 9, median 6, and maximum 12; ask what share falls between 4 and 9.
Give pairs line plots, histograms, box plots, and claim cards like “The median is 7”; have them match claims to plots.
Show a histogram of monthly library visits with bins 0–2: 5, 3–5: 9, and 6–8: 4; ask how many visited at least three times.

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