Introduction

Graphs are used every day by the media to help get the point of their story to the reader. Click here to go to a page that has a sample graph about what students prefer to have for lunch at school. Graphs often make a point much clearer, easier then text can. In this web based lesson, you will learn about reading, interpreting, and creating computerized charts and graphs. You will be using this site as a guide to your assignment. After learning the basics about business graphics from several sites I have selected for you, you will surf some destinations that will provide you with data you can then use to create your own graphs.

The Task

After reading about graphs on some web pages, two distinct tasks are required. First, you will look at existing graphs and determine what they say about the data they represent. In other words, interpret the data into your own words to draw conclusions. Second, you will be creating several graphs of different types using data gathered from the internet. These graphs will include:

Line Graph

Bar Graphs

and

Pie Charts

In the end, you will combine your efforts into a slide show that will then show all your graphs in a single presentation.

The Process

Part 1

First, visit the following three world wide web pages to learn some of the basics about graphs. Answer the first ten questions on the corresponding worksheet as you read these pages. Click here to bring up a copy of the worksheet in Internet Explorer. Use the BACK key to return to this page when finished with each section.

• Advantages, Disadvantages, and Purposes to Using Charts and Graphs.
• Types of Charts and Graphs.
• Choosing the Right Graph.

Part 2:

For part 2, link to the sites listed below and use them to answer the rest of the questions on the worksheet.

• See a Line Graph and answer questions 11 through 15.
• See a Bar Graph and answer questions 16 through 20.
• See a Pie Chart and answer questions 21 through 25.

Part 3:

You will need to have Internet Explorer ® and a spreadsheet application that can do graphs like Appleworks ® or Excel open at the same time to effectively work on this part of the assignment. You will go between the two programs frequently. For this part, you will choose from the following set of links to gather numeric data to use to create graphs of your own. After finding a sight that has the kind of data you believe will make a good graph, type it into the spreadsheet and have it draw your graph. Make one each of the following types of graphs. Be sure to label your graphs and include the site you used to find the information.

Bar Graph	Line Graph
Pie Chart	Stacked Column Graph

Possible source sites:

U.S. Government Bond Interest Rates.

Major League Batting Statistics.

Vote Totals From Presidential Elections.

Macintosh RAM Prices.

This Week's Most Watched Television Shows.

State Poulation Figures.

Evaluation

Evaluation will involve the correctness of the answers on the worksheet and the quality of the graphs produced from the Internet data as well as the presentation of the graphs in Appleworks. Each of the first twenty questions are worth one point each. Each of the graphs are worth five points with points being given as follows:

1	2	3	4	5
Graph holds some data but it doesn't mean anything.	Graph holds meaningful data but is not correctly orientated	Graph seems to display information leading to a conclusion but is not well explained	Graph displays data leading to a meaningful conclusion but contains some errors	Graph makes the results of the data obvious to the user

Finally, the presentation of the graphs will be worth the final five points. Ideally, the graphs will be tied together in a slide show and well documented. This will make the entire project worth 50 points and easily converted to a percetage scale. One possibility is:

46-50	42-45	38-41	34-37	33 and below
A	B	C	D	F

Conclusion

Congratulations, completing this lesson has made you proficient at createing computerized graphs that represent numerical data gathered from any source. You also are able to interpret existing graphs, weigh their validity, and draw conclusions concerning the data they represent. Finally, you've gotten some Internet experience and used a graphing application.

Credits & References

This Webquest was produced by Joel Caulum in June, 2000 at Portage High School in Portage, WI. Special thanks to technology instructor Jeff Horney and technician Tom Kobza. Claris Home Page was used for page design and most of the graphics are from the Home Page Library. The tutorial pages and some of the sample graphs are courtesy of the Missippi State University web site.

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