Choosing the Right Graph

Lab Brief #4

🎯 Your mission

Understand the idea. Then look for it everywhere.

⚡ The twist

Nature loves to surprise the careful watcher.

What you'll learn

A bar chart compares separate categories; a line graph shows how one continuous quantity changes with another; a scatter plot looks for a relationship between two measurements. Choosing wrongly hides the pattern you measured.

Key words

bar chart
A graph comparing separate categories with bars of different heights.
line graph
A graph showing how one continuous quantity changes with another.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you start: write down what you think will happen, and why.

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Think about what you just learned: say what "bar chart" and "line graph" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Take three supplied data sets — favourite lunch by class, temperature through one day, and height against shoe size — and decide which graph each needs. Draw all three and write one sentence per graph saying what it reveals.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.

Question 1 of 2

Temperature recorded every hour is best shown as a:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

A scatter plot is used to look for:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🔬 The more you look, the more nature shows you.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 2 right.

Next: Repeats, Means and Reliability All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: This shows up in your everyday life more than you'd think.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Try one experiment in real life this week — even a tiny one.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “What's the most surprising thing you learned today?”

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