Graphs and Interpreting Graphs Activities – Hands On Data Investigations

Description

What IS this graphing resource? These are NOT your typical graphing activities…and they are not just “busy work” for students–these graphing lessons are meant to be collaborative, instructional, rigorous, and FUN!

Students need to have experience creating and interpreting graphs, so we need graphing lessons that are more than fill-in-the-blank worksheets. That’s how we get students to understand that data has a purpose and that graphs show that data well.

This resource includes opportunities to practice:

1. pie graphs (circle graphs)
2. pictographs
3. line graphs
4. bar graphs

One thing that I know to be true is that students need to learn to read, do math, and be critical thinkers. Reading and interpreting graphs combine all three! Unfortunately, what our textbooks often do is present students with a graph and ask them low level, “right there” questions. There is a time and a place for that—but I think our students can do so much more…and that is how this resource was born!

What does this resource include?

• The first section is full of what I call “Mystery Graphs”! These are graphs that are “empty”—no titles, no labels, nothing. They are geared toward getting students thinking about what the data looks like and what the title/topic COULD be. What great ways to start math discussions!

• The next section is called “What’s the Question?” and has fully completed graphs—with no questions. It is the students’ job to generate questions (and answers!) that could be found on these graphs. This is a much higher level skill than answering a question written by someone else.

• Finally, I have included an entire section geared toward helping you help your students create survey questions that can provide them with meaningful data that you can then turn into graphs—whether you make them by hand or by using spreadsheets. The beauty is—you can then go back to the “What’s the Question” section and try some of those activities with your student-collected data! More details are included with each section!

Check out the preview for more information and to see what is included.

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