Reading Someone Else's Data

Lab Brief #6

🎯 Your mission

Learn the rule. Then catch nature using it.

⚡ The twist

Nature loves to surprise the careful watcher.

What you'll learn

Before trusting a graph, check three things: what is on each axis, what the units are, and where the scale starts. A bar chart whose axis begins at 90 rather than 0 can make a tiny difference look enormous.

Key words

axis
One of the two reference lines of a graph, each labelled with a quantity and unit.
misleading scale
An axis choice that exaggerates or hides the real size of a difference.

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 "axis" and "misleading scale" mean in your own words before you start.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Given the same data plotted twice — once from zero and once from a truncated axis — write down what each version makes you believe. Then redraw the honest version and state the real difference as a percentage.

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

A bar chart whose y-axis starts at 90 instead of 0 tends to:

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 2

The first thing to check on an unfamiliar graph is:

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: Evidence Versus Opinion 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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