- Definition
Sampling is when you take a small group from a larger group to learn something about the whole, like trying one cookie to know if the whole batch is good.
To find the most popular lunch at school, you survey 50 students instead of all 500.
How to teach this in 30 seconds
Try this analogy: Sampling is like tasting one spoonful of soup to get an idea of what the whole pot tastes like.
Ask your child: To guess the school's favorite pizza, who could you ask?
Common mix-up: Kids may think you must ask everyone to get a good answer. The goal of sampling is to make a smart guess about the whole group by asking just a small, representative part of it.
Examples
- A cookie company has a small group of kids taste-test a new recipe before selling it in stores.
- To check if a batch of strawberries is sweet, you taste a few from the carton instead of eating all of them.
sampling is a term used in Ontario’s Kindergarten to Grade 8 curriculum.
Where this shows up
The descriptions on this page are SmartStudy’s own original, plain-language writing — not the Ministry’s wording. They are aligned to the Ontario Curriculum, © King’s Printer for Ontario. For the Ministry’s official wording, see the source link below. SmartStudy is an independent service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Government of Ontario or the Ministry of Education. Ontario Curriculum and Resources ↗
