EXPLORING CRITICAL SENSE IN GRAPHING

In current social contexts there are various situations in which people participate in graphing activities. The school has an important role in the teaching of graphing knowledge to citizens. Several researchers have stressed critical sense as an important aspect of the data handling process. This paper reports on a pilot study exploring some tasks in which primary school teachers might approach graphing, using critical sense as an important element. Analysis of the results suggests factors, which may be significant in the design of such tasks.

2003

In current social contexts there are various situations in which people participate in graphing activities. The school has an important role in the teaching of graphing knowledge to citizens. Several researchers have stressed critical sense as an important aspect of the data handling process. This paper reports on a pilot study exploring some tasks in which primary school teachers might approach graphing, using critical sense as an important element. Analysis of the results suggests factors, which may be significant in the design of such tasks.

Abstract. Considering the wide utilization of graphs in different contexts of the contemporary society, curriculum makers around the world have included graphing as a topic in all levels of school mathematics in order to strengthen the social role of the school curriculum. This inclusion has been justified as a way to provide opportunities for students to use mathematical and statistical tools learnt in school to understand out-of-school uses of data. This paper discusses some aspects of the socio-historical origins of graphs and some current contexts in which they are used, as well as pedagogical implications. Resumo. Considerando a ampla utilização de gráficos em diferentes contextos da sociedade contemporânea, curriculistas de diversas partes do mundo incluíram o ensino de gráficos como tópico de todos os níveis escolares. Essa inclusão tem como objetivo a atualização o papel social de conteúdos escolares relacionados a Matemática e a Estatística. Além disso, essa inclusão tem sido justificada como uma maneira de proporcionar oportunidades para os alunos usarem ferramentas matemáticas e estatísticas para interpretar e compreender dados em situações em situações cotidianas fora da escola. Este artigo discute alguns aspectos das origens sócio-históricas de gráficos e alguns contextos atuais nos quais eles são usados, incluindo implicações pedagógicas de tais reflexões. Keywords: interpretation of graphs; historical aspects related to graphs; mathematics education; statistics education. Palavras-chave: interpretação de gráficos; aspectos históricos de gráficos; educação matemática; educação estatística.

Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 2001

Educational Psychology Review, 2002

Graphs are commonly used in textbooks and educational software, and can help students understand science and social science data. However, students sometimes have difficulty comprehending information depicted in graphs. What makes a graph better or worse at communicating relevant quantitative information? How can students learn to interpret graphs more effectively? This article reviews the cognitive literature on how viewers comprehend graphs and the factors that influence viewers' interpretations. Three major factors are considered: the visual characteristics of a graph (e.g., format, animation, color, use of legend, size, etc.), a viewer's knowledge about graphs, and a viewer's knowledge and expectations about the content of the data in a graph. This article provides a set of guidelines for the presentation of graphs to students and considers the implications of graph comprehension research for the teaching of graphical literacy skills. Finally, this article discusses unresolved questions and directions for future research relevant to data presentation and the teaching of graphical literacy skills.

This paper discusses a research study that focused on middle grades students' abilities to read and to move between different graphical representations before and after instruction. The data analyzed were collected from a group of 76 sixth grade students who were in 3 different mathematics classes in a middle school located in central North Carolina. The ways that students made sense of information presented through graphical representations and made connections between related pairs of graphs were investigated. General conclusions indicate that students need to talk more about graphs, including talking about the structure of graphs and how this informs the statements that can be made about: (1) the information depicted by the graphs and/or (2) the predictions or inferences that can be drawn from the graphs. Contains graphs and questions used on written pre- and posttests. Contains 26 references. (MKR)

2015

2014

This study examined how 12- and 13-year-old students’ mathematics and science background knowledge affected line graph interpretations and how interpretations were affected by graph question levels. A purposive sample of 14 students engaged in think aloud interviews while completing an excerpted Test of Graphing in Science. Data were collected and coded using a rubric of previously cited factors, categorized by Bertin’s (Semiology of graphics: Diagrams, networks, maps. The University of Wisconsin Press, Ltd., Madison, 1983) theory of graph interpretation. Data analysis revealed responses varied by graph question level. Across levels, students interpreted graphs in one or more of the three ways: mathematical word problems (focusing on an algorithm), science data to be analyzed (incorporating science knowledge), or no strategy. Although consistently used across levels, the frequency and usefulness of approaches varied by question level.

This paper reports on a study that investigated the interpretation of media graphs developed by student teachers. The analyses of interviews indicate that cognitive, affective and contextual, aspects might constitute important components of the interpretation of graph such as those that we can find in print media. Particularly we discuss Critical Sense in graphing which is a skill that people can use to read the data, building an interpretation that balances these different aspects. The discussion of results might contribute to an understanding of these aspects, and the development of strategies, which help teachers think about the teaching and learning of graphing in ways that will support the development of Critical Sense. [For complete proceedings, see ED 489538.]

Although the creation of graphs to display data has been part of the school curriculum for some time, the call in the new Australian Curriculum for " numeracy across the curriculum " provides both the opportunity and challenge to link the skills of graph creating with the understanding of context in order to produce meaningful interpretation of the messages held in graphs. This paper reports on classroom experiences of and follow-up interviews with 12 grade 5/6 students who were introduced to the software TinkerPlots to assist in graph creation. The focus is on their success at graph creation and interpretation in contexts that provide potential links to other subjects in the school curriculum. Implications for the curriculum and teaching are drawn from the students' experiences.