Within all content areas, graphing is key. Graphs need to be read, interpreted, and analyzed. They are used especially in Mathematics and Science. 

Throughout the semester, my classmates and I have been learning all about graphs; from how to read  and interpret them to how to create our own.

One of the first graphs we learned about were pie charts, or circle graphs.  These graphs are used to depict percentages,  parts of a whole, and fractions.

Here is an example of a pie chart I made at the beginning of the semester. It depicts the percent of tests that classified oobleck as a solid or a liquid. Based on my results, the oobleck was 66.7% solid and 33.3% liquid. 

Solid
Liquid

Another kind of graph we have generated and analyzed are bar graphs. Bar graphs are used to represent categorical data which can be used for comparison.

 

To the left, is a sample of one of my student’s bar graphs from fieldwork. Based on the data, it is clear that this students received more blue skittles than any other color. Also, she got the least amount of green skittles. However there is a critical part of this graph missing. The x-axis is not labeled collectively. Therefore, below all of the different colors, it should say “colors of skittles.”

A third graph, similar to the bar graph, is a comparative bar graph.  One major difference between this graph and a regular bar graph is it compares two different sets of data. 

Below are two comparative bar graphs from the final Science Activity Sheet completed this semester. The first graph compares different nutrition facts between two kinds of granola bars. In this graph, a lot of the data is close. However, it shows that the Nature Valley Granola Bar has 5 more grams of carbs than the NutriGrain Bar, this is the most significant difference shown on the graph. Also, the fact that there is more protein and less sugar in the Nature Valley Granola Bar led me to conclude that this is the healthier option. 

This second graph shows a comparison of the amount of squats and sit ups I was capable of completing within one minute. After both trials, the amount of exercises I was able to do decreased, as shown in the graph. This could have resulted from fatigue after doing them one after the other.