Materials:
· LED Projector
· Computer with internet access
Objective: Students will be able to interpret, sketch, and analyze graphs from situations.
On the news and on the internet, graphs are used as a simple way to communicate large amounts of data. Being able to read a graph, interpret what it represents and analyze the information is crucial in so many areas.
Bellwork: Ask each student to write a brief paragraph of their journey to school, from door to door. (As the students are writing their assignment, draw Q1 of the coordinate plane on the board without any numbers. Label the y-axis "distance" and the x-axis "time")
· Select a few students at random and ask them to read their story. Choose a different colour for each student and "draw" their story on the board. Do not explain what you are doing. As you are drawing more and more students' stories, some in the class might start to see a pattern. The line is steeper when the student took the bus and flat when they were waiting for the bus, why?
· Now ask the students to draw a graph on the same paper as their story and hand it in to assess their understanding.
Classwork: Explain to the students that graphs are not always confined to lines and grids. There are many different ways in which data may be presented outside of the traditional. Yet, we are still able to "read" the graph and draw conclusions based on what we see.
· Go to the website: www.factoryfarmmap.org
· Using the initial setting, ask the students what they can infer by looking at the map.
· Before moving to specific categories, ask the students to predict what they think the map will look like when you select the category. Most people don't really consider where their food comes from. This map provides a somewhat graphic depiction of the concentration of factory farms and what regions of the country are affected. The beauty of this map is that you can do it for every state in the Union.
· Does Connecticut have any large concentrations of the products listed? Click on Connecticut. Ask the students what products they think might be relevant to our state. Which counties are affected?
Homework: Have students search the internet to find a graph that is similar to the ones used in class. Each student should come back with a story based on the graph they selected. If the students are having difficulty finding a website, Google Images is a great place to start!