Skip to content
Oak National Academy
Oak National Academy
Teachers
Pupils
New
New
Year 8

Understanding the mode

I can understand what the mode is measuring, how it is measuring it and find the mode from data presented in a list.

Download all resources
arrow-right
Share activities with pupils
arrow-right
New
New
Year 8

Understanding the mode

I can understand what the mode is measuring, how it is measuring it and find the mode from data presented in a list.

Download all resources
arrow-right
Share activities with pupils
arrow-right
warning

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
View new resources
arrow-right

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The mode is a measure of central tendency.
  2. The mode is the most frequently occurring value in a data set.
  3. There can be more than one mode.

Keywords

  • Mode - the most frequent value. It is a measure of central tendency representing the average of the values.

  • Bimodal - Sets of data which have two modes are known as bimodal data

  • Trimodal - Trimodal data has three modes

Common misconception

Pupils may not understand what feature of a data set they're trying to find when identifying a mode

Phrase the question as 'What is the modal colour?' for instance, rather than just 'What is the mode?'

Emphasise to pupils that the mode is the only measure of central tendency that can be used with qualitative data.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

Skip lesson video

Loading...

Starter quiz

Download starter quiz

6 Questions

Q1.
Which is larger: 5 902 or 5 920?
5 902
Correct answer: 5 920
Q2.
Starting with the lowest number, put these numbers in order of size.
1 - 2.4003
2 - 2.409
3 - 2.41
4 - 2.416
5 - 2.435
6 - 2.47
7 - 3
Q3.
Select the symbols that could be correctly written in the box. $${3} \square {3}$$
$$<$$
Correct answer: $$\leq$$
$$>$$
Correct answer: $$\geq$$
Correct answer: $$=$$
Q4.
The letter 's' appears times in the tongue twister "She sells seashells on the seashore".
Correct Answer: 8, eight
Q5.
An is a single number expressing the central or typical value in a set of data.
Correct Answer: average
Q6.
In a non-leap year, which calendar month has the same number of Mondays as Tuesdays as Wednesdays as Thursdays as Fridays as Saturdays as Sundays?
Correct Answer: February

Exit quiz

Download exit quiz

6 Questions

Q1.
The mode is the most value. It is a measure of central tendency representing the average of the values.
Correct Answer: frequent, common
Q2.
The mode of this data: (-4), (-4), (-4), 2, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10 is .
Correct Answer: -4, - 4, negative 4
Q3.
Which of these data sets has no mode?
3, 5, 7, 3, 4, 7, 4, 6, 8
2, 0, 2, 0, 4, 6, 6, 3, 1, 2
Correct answer: 13, 15, 17, 14, 18, 12, 11, 16
cat, dog, cat, mouse, spider, horse
Q4.
Which is the best description for the data set shown in this dot plot?
An image in a quiz
no mode
Correct answer: one mode
bimodal
trimodal
Q5.
Match each data set to the description of its modes.
Correct Answer:autumn, summer, summer, spring,one mode

one mode

Correct Answer:3, 5, 2, 8, 1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 3,bimodal

bimodal

Correct Answer:a, b, b, c, c, d, e, e, f, g,trimodal

trimodal

Correct Answer:-2, -4, -1, -3, -7, -5, -10,no mode

no mode

Q6.
The mode of the data shown on this dot plot is .
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 3, three