Graphing Data
Suggested Timeframe: 1-2 hours
Goal
To help students develop the skills required to use and graph data from a spreadsheet.
Activities
Activity 1. Understanding graphs
Begin by asking students to name common graphs they see in everyday life and what they measured. Then run through with the class the contexts each type of graph could be used in. Refer to the topic handout for brief explanations of each type of common graph.
Activity 2. Graphing data
Use the PowerPoint presentation provided and work through it as a class. Some of this information may have already been covered in the ‘Using spread sheets’ lesson. If so, skip to the slides on ‘graphing’ and focus on this area of learning.
Activity 3. Graphing web stats (optional)
Go online to Business.govt.nz and select the article 'Using website stats to improve your site' (address below in Resources). This article outlines a real-world situation where a business might graph data to understand the success of a project, in this case its website. After running through the situation with the class, divide them into eight groups (this activity can also be carried out individually) and assign each group a set of data statistics from the list in the article (i.e., Unique visitors and visits or Errors on pages) and the data from the school/college’s own website. Now ask each group to interpret the data and display it in a graph of their choosing. Once finished, each group can give a presentation on the data, explaining why they chose the type of graph for their data set.
