Histograms are often used to analyze the different aspects of a population. This makes an ideal example for a small group such as a class of students. Measure the height of each person in the group and record this on a data sheet. Then choose the ranges of height in order to make at least four or five bars on the histogram. Graph the number of people at each height for each range to see which height range is most common.
When grades in a class are graphed, they should form a bell curve, which shows most of the students near the middle (in C range) and few students at the ends (in A or F ranges). Choose data from a class and generate a histogram that shows how many students got each of the five letter grades: A, B, C, D or F. An extra element to this can be added by choosing grades from a class or test that was too hard or too easy, showing how the bell curve would skew high or low.
Histograms often show how different tasks or events take varying lengths of time. This can be applied to any group that has an activity or process that takes time to complete. For example, have each person in a group keep time while completing a puzzle. Make a histogram out of the different times, showing how many people took that long to complete the puzzle. Suggested ranges for this histogram would be in 30-second intervals.
Many histograms show how often an event occurs. For example, in weather, a histogram can show how many days of the year rain fell. Or, it can show how many days were sunny. Over the course of a month, chart how many weather-related events occur. Archive weather sources such as The Weather Channel or NOAA can be used to gather data over the course of longer periods, even to demonstrate how many days saw rainfall in a year or over several years.
Trends in the fluctuation of prices can be revealed with a histogram. Because gas prices can change on a daily basis, this makes an ideal product to analyze. Write down the price of gas on each day of the month at a given time. Then chart how many days the gas was within a specific range. A suggested range is every 25 cents. Expand this data by collecting gas price data from other areas of the country or for larger ranges, using online resources.