Monday's Lesson: What's so smart about that graph?
Introduction
Your students are about to use an electronic sensor, perhaps for the
first time. The data will be displayed as a real-time graph. They
are just learning to read graphs and work with a "live" one. What is
the best way to help them?
In order to help students put these understandings together, CC is developing "smart graph" capabilities. A "smart" graph is one that can help you investigate it by checking your interpretation, based on your answers to questions. It can highlight a portion of the graph, check your answer, prompt you to try again, describe what you should look for, or explain how to calculate something.
Here are some examples to show how the Smart Graph will work. Use the forward and back arrows below.
Temperature: sample data
|
Answer the following questions about the graph. Use the
forward and back arrows just below the questions.
|
|
Temperature: you try it
Attach a Vernier fast-response temperature sensor. Click on the
magnifying glass
for
a technical hint. Do your own experiments with temperature.
Force: sample data
|
Answer the following questions about the graph.
|
|
Force: you try it
Attach a Vernier dual-range force sensor. Click on the magnifying glass
for a technical hint. Do your
own experiments with friction.
The future of smart graphs
The smart graph examples here used pre-recorded data.
In order to
take the next step and respond to real data, the smart graph will
have additional capabilities:
• Smooth the data, so that maxima, minima, averages, and slopes can be calculated more easily • Find maxima and minima
• Find differencs
• Find averages and slopes in regions designated by the student
• Identify regions with different types of curves, such as constant slope upward or downward, increasing or decreasing slope
There is also great potential in having the smart graph display the output of models, such as Molecular Workbench and NetLogo.
There's an enormous amount of information in a graph, which makes graphs very rich and interesting tools for understanding. In each situation, what should be noticed and interpreted—and what can be ignored—is different. This is a challenge for the author of the smart graph questions, but it's also why this capability is so useful for teaching.
Understanding graphs is a fundamental part of scientific literacy. Smart graphs may make your students smarter about graphs!