IntroductiontoGraphicLiteracy–Statistics,Graphs,andCharts

Whenyouheartheword“math"or"chartsandgraphs”,whatcomestomind?Howabouttheword“statistics?”Whatdoyouthinkandhowdoyoufeel?Howdoyouthinkyourstudentsthinkandfeel?

Statisticsdoesnotneedtobeanintimidatingword.Statisticsareeverywhere!

Mostofusareusingstatisticsinoureverydaylifeeitherathome,inthecommunity,andintheworkplace.Weusedatatogatherinformationandmakeimportantdecisions.DataandStatisticsareapartofoureverydaylife.

Allmatheventuallyleadstostatistics.Visuals,charts,andgraphsassistusinunderstandingthem.

Inadditiontoclosereading,studentsneedmorespecificmath,graphicliteracy,andvisualliteracyskillsontheGED®SocialStudiesandScienceTests.FortheSocialStudiestest,studentswillalsoneedtoknowaboutEnduringIssues.FortheScienceTest,studentswillneedtoknowabouttheScientificMethod.

TheGEDTSÒhasidentifiedthekeyfocusforeachtest.

TheabilitytointerpretchartsgraphsandunderstandstatisticsisakeyskillneededfortheGED®SocialStudiesandScienceTests.Wheredoweseestatistics,graphsandchartsontheGEDÒTest?TheGEDTSÒPerformanceLevelDescriptorsdefinetheskillsneededforthetest.TheGEDTSÒhasidentifiedPerformanceLevelDescriptors(PLDs)foreachcontentareaoftheGEDTest.ThepurposeofthePLDsistoidentifythespecificskillsatest-takerwillneedtodemonstrateinordertopasstheGEDÒtest.Thelevelsare:Level1–BelowPassing;Level2–Passing;Level3-CollegeReady;andLevel4–CollegeReadywithHonors.WhenstudentstaketheGEDÒorGEDÒReadytest,thetestingfeedbackwillreferencethePLDsthatthetest-takerdidnotfullydemonstrate.ThefollowinglinkprovidesthePLDsforeachofthecontentareaswithtipsonhoweducatorsmayusethemintheclassroomtoimprovestudentoutcomes.https://gedtestingservice.com/educators/pldtipsManyoftheGEDÒPerformanceLevelIndicators(PLDs)inSocialStudiesandSciencerequiregraphicliteracyandmathskills.StudentswhoscoreintheGreenZoneontheGEDÒReadypracticetestarelikelytopasstheGEDÒtest.TheskillslistedbelowarethePLDsofthosewhoarelikelytopassthetest.ReasoningQuantitativelyandInterpretingDatainSocialStudiesContexts

Ø Integratequantitativeortechnicalanalysis(e.g.,charts,researchdata)withqualitativeanalysisinprintordigitaltextatasatisfactorylevel

Ø Analyzeinformationpresentedinavarietyofmaps,graphicorganizers,tables,andcharts;andinavarietyofvisualsourcessuchasartifacts,photographs,politicalcartoonsatasatisfactorylevel

Ø Translatequantitativeinformationexpressedinwordsinatextintovisualform(e.g.,tableorchart);translateinformationexpressedvisuallyormathematicallyintowordsatasatisfactorylevel

Ø Interpret,use,andcreategraphsincludingproperlabelingatasatisfactorylevel.Predicttrendswithinareasonablelimit,basedonthedata

Ø Representdataontwovariables(dependentandindependent)onagraph;analyzeandcommunicatehowthevariablesarerelatedatasatisfactorylevel

Ø DistinguishbetweencorrelationandcausationatasatisfactorylevelØ Calculatethemean,median,mode,andrangeofadatasetatasatisfactorylevel

AstudentwhoscoresintheGreenZoneontheGEDÒReadyTestislikelytopasstheGEDÒtestandhavedemonstratedtheseskills:ReasoningQuantitativelyandInterpretingDatainScientificContexts

Ø Understandandexplainnon-textualscientificpresentationsatasatisfactorylevelØ ApplyformulasfromscientifictheoriesatasatisfactorylevelØ DeterminetheprobabilityofeventsatasatisfactorylevelØ Usecountingandpermutationstosolvescientificproblemsatasatisfactorylevel

"InGod,wetrust.Allothersmustbringdata!"-W.EdwardsDeming

BeginwiththeBasics

Whatisstatisticsanddataanyway?

Doyourstudentsknowapurposeforlearningaboutstatisticsanddata?

HelpingyourstudentstoseetheneedforlearningstatisticsbeyondtheGED®willassisttheminunderstandingthecontentandlearningquicker.

Wemaybeginbyshowingthemhowtheyarealreadyusingmathandstatistics,withoutbeingaware,tomakedecisionsintheireverydaylife.Forexample,theymaydecidetogotoamoviebecause7oftheir10friendsthoughtitwasgreat.Theymaynothaveconductedascientificexperiment;but,chancesaretheyhaveuseddataandstatisticstomakeadecision.

Lastweek,weexploredmanydifferentwaystoengagestudents.Whenintroducingyourstudentstostatisticsanddata,youmaywanttobeginwithaquote,suchastheoneaboveandaskthemwhattheymayinferfromthequote.

Doyourstudentsknowhowdataisorganized?

Startwithagraphorchartandaskthemwhattheythinkitmeans?

1. Youmaybeginwithagraphicsimilartotheonebelow.Askstudentsatext-basedquestiontogetthemthinkingaboutthegraph.Iftheystruggle,youmaywanttomodelafewquestionsthatyouwouldusetointerpretthegraphandthinkaloudyourthinkingwhenyoureadthegraph.

Aftertheyanswerthequestion,askstudentscriticalthinkingquestionstodiscoverhowtheycameupwiththeanswers.Thepurposeistogetthemtousethehigherorder,criticalthinkingskillsthattheywillneedtointerpretchartsandgraphs.Afteryouprovidethemwiththeanswers,youmaywanttomodelquestioningthatyouwouldusetointerpretthegraph.

2. Anotherway,orasecondstep,tointroducethemtotheconcept,istoshowthemtextandaskthemhowtodisplaytheinformation.Iftheystruggle,youmayaskthemtext-basedquestionsthatguidethemthroughtheprocess.Withstrugglingstudents,youcanmodelitforthemfirst.

3.Next,youmaybegintoexplainthedifferentwaysthatinformationisrepresentedandthatsomewaysarebettersuitedfordatathanothers

Atthispointyoumaywanttodefinestatisticsanddatamorespecifically.Youmayevenuseavocabularywordchart.FrayerModelhttps://www.worksheetworks.com/miscellanea/graphic-organizers/frayer.html

Therearethreemaintypesofgraphs,linegraphs,bargraphs,andcirclegraphs.

BonusOptionalResource

https://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/

Ifyourstudentscanoverlookthe“kids”theme,thisisagreattoolforadultstudentstopracticecreatingchartsandgraphs.

ActivityforStudents

Allowingyourstudentstakealookatdataandrepresentitinmultiplewaysusinggraphsandchartsisoneofthemosteffectivemeansofassistingyourstudentsinlearningaboutstatistics.

Havestudentsreadandinterpretthegraphsandchartsinthefollowingwebsitedocument“TheRisingCostofNotGoingtoCollege.”http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of-not-going-to-college/

HigherLevelstudents:Hidethegraphandaskthemtocreateone.

MiddleLevelstudents:Askthemtorepresentthedatainanotherformatthantheoneshown.

LowerLevelstudents:Askthemtocompareandcontrastthegraphsandcharts.

MultipleWaystoDisplayDataItisimportanttoteachyourstudentsthatthesamedatamaybedisplayedmultipleways.Belowisanexamplethatyoumayshowstudents.Itisthesamedatashownmultipleways.