The focus of our lesson was on collecting, recording, and graphing data. This was an introductory lesson for a second grade class, and included a discussion of why graphs are often used, and an analysis of how different types of graphs can be more/less effective for displaying particular kinds of data.
For the lesson,
- A teacher-created flipchart was used to introduce the topic, model, and practice as a class.
- Students developed their own survey questions and data collection tables
- Peer surveys were conducted
- Create-A-Graph was used to make 3 different graphs of the data (bar, line, and pie/circle)
- Graphs were shared & discussed
Each student used the Create-A-Graph website to create 3 different types of graphs using the data they collected: http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx .
Student Work Samples:
These 3 graphs were created by one student to share her findings:
Reflection:
There were a number of effective components of this lesson. Create-A-Graph is a user-friendly way for students to create a variety of types of graphs. The graphs were accurate, neat, and easy-to-read. Working through creating a graph provided ample opportunity for instruction (What is an X-axis? What is the minimum value?). The site provides opportunities for student choice (color, font, style) without being overwhelming. For this activity, I appreciated the way that students were able to manipulate the same data in to a variety of forms ... which made it very easy for us to compare the graphs. As students previewed their graphs before saving, they were able to notice problems and easily correct them (without having to completely re-do their graph).
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