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Tally Chart

Data & Statistics · Year 1–Year 4

Tap a row to add a mark. Five marks make a gate.

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About the tally chart

A row for each thing being counted, and a tap adds one mark. Tap as the hands go up, or as the cars go past the window, and the marks appear as they are counted rather than after the event. That is what a tally chart is for, and it is why this is not the bar chart: a bar chart is a picture of data you already have.

Five marks make a gate, four uprights and the fifth laid across them, so the finished chart is read by counting in fives and adding on the ones left over. Hide the numbers and that counting is the whole activity: three gates and two more is seventeen.

The rows are yours to name, and the same list of rows and counts is behind the bar chart and the pictogram, so a survey tallied here can be drawn either way afterwards. The share button carries the tally, so a class can pick it up again next lesson.

How to use it on your whiteboard

  1. 1Press Rows and type what you are counting, one per line.
  2. 2Tap a row to add a mark. Anywhere in the row will do, so you can tap without looking while the class counts.
  3. 3Press Undo if you count wrong. It steps back one mark at a time.
  4. 4Press Hide to take the numbers off and ask the class to count the fives.
  5. 5Tap Fullscreen to fill the board. Rub out clears every mark and keeps the rows.

Questions

How do I take a mark off if I count wrong?
Press Undo, which steps back one mark at a time. Tapping a mark deliberately does not rub it out: the marks grow towards wherever your finger keeps landing, so a rub out gesture in the row would start cancelling the taps of a teacher counting along with the class.
How many marks can a row hold?
Forty, which is eight gates. A tally mark is a fixed width so that it stays a mark rather than turning into a bar, and forty is as many as fit across the board at a size a class can see. The board says so when a row is full.
Can I turn the tally into a bar chart?
Not in one press. The bar chart and the pictogram use the same rows and counts, so the same survey can be set up in either, but they are separate tools because collecting data and drawing it are separate lessons.
Do I need an account?
No. Trove Tools is free with no login, no subscription and no limits.