Line graphs should come with certain pieces of information. It should have labels telling what the X and Y axis represents and the units such as per thousand or miles. The horizontal axis usually represents a time element such as weeks, months, years while the vertical axis represent the quantity measurement such as 15,000 fish, or miles covered, or the amount a stock sold for. In addition, the graph's title should tell you exactly what the graph is about.
Next, check the scale on both the X and Y axis. Is the scales by ones, 10s, 100s, 15000s for each axis or is one by 10's and the other by ones? It is important to know before one begins to interpret the data on the graph. Then when you are ready to interpret the graph, know the question you need to answer. When is the number of salmon being processed is at it's lowest or highest. What is happening to the population in 1924?
Finally to read the graph, one finds the point where the x axis value intersects the y axis. This is the answer to the question and students need to be able to explain the answer to others. This requires several sentences such as "the processing plant was only able to do 15 fish per hour in May" or "After 15 hours of driving an average speed of 70 miles per hour they traveled 1050 miles.
On the other hand, most bar graphs compare two or more items. These still have the X and Y axis but the x axis is often made up of items such as appliances or types of fish, and the y axis tells you what it is such as kilowatt hours used or number of fish caught. These graphs should have a title and something to identify what is being compared such as weekend vs weeknight use or caught by subsistence or sportsmen. and they color that represents each. Again, you have to know the question in order to interpret the information on the graph and answers need to be given in complete sentences.
TV411 has a really nice set of activities that require students to interpret data contained in a graph. The first set of questions go with a bar graph on the amount of electricity used by several appliances such as lights, heater, or refrigerator. The two bars represent weekday use and weekend use and the site asks 10 different questions which require the student to really read the questions and the graph to find the answer. At the end of each question, the student will submit the answer and they receive immediate feedback. If the student gets the question correct, the program will tell them so and explain the answer in more detail while if they miss the question, the immediate feedback explains the answer in terms of the graph.
The second activity asks eight questions on reading and interpreting a pie chart while the third activity provides two pie charts and a table for students to determine if there is enough information available to answer certain questions such as how many seniors voted for a certain candidate or if to tell if more senior citizens voted for a certain person. I really liked the questions in all three activities because they require higher level thought to answer. Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear. Have a great day.
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