Regents Biology Graphing Your Data Showing patterns & trends A picture is worth a thousand words!

Regents Biology Types of data (information)  Variables  what you measure in an experiment  independent variable  Aka manipulated variable  first column in the data table*  X-axis  predictable change: it only changes because we chose how it would change  dependent variable  Aka responding variable  measured variable  Second column in the data table**  unpredictable change: we don’t know how it will change until we do the experiment  Y-axis The effect of _____________ on _____________ INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT Water Depth (m) * Temperat ure ℃ **

Regents Biology Examples of experiments 1  How does fertilizer affect the growth rate of plants?  we set up an experiment testing different amounts of fertilizer on different plants & measuring the growth (height) of the plants:  independent variable (X-axis)? amount of fertilizer  dependent variable (Y-axis)?  height of plants The effect of _____________ on _____________ Amount of Fertilizer Height of Plants

Regents Biology Examples of experiments 2  How does exercise affect heart rate of 10th grade student?  we set up an experiment testing different lengths of time of exercise (minutes) on the heart rate of students:  independent variable (X-axis)?  minutes of exercise  dependent variable (Y-axis)?  heart rate The effect of _____________ on _____________ Exercise Heart Rate

Regents Biology Examples of experiments 3  What’s the favorite drink of students?  we set up an experiment surveying students and asking which is their favorite drink :  independent variable (X-axis)? type of drink  dependent variable (Y-axis)?  number of students The effect of _____________ on _____________ Type of Drink How many students chose it

Regents Biology Making pictures out of data  Graphs  line graphs  graphing data that shows continuous change  bar graphs (or histograms)  graphing data that is in disconnected groups How’s a critter to choose?

Regents Biology How does elevation affect temperature? elevation temperature elevation (feet above sea level) temp. (°C) ft? 1818 Line graph! 1200

Regents Biology Which drink do you like best? type of drink number of students CokePepsiwaterteaGatorade 0 drinknumber Coke1 Pepsi1 Water4 Iced tea4 Gatorade3 Red Bull? RB Bar graph!

Regents Biology Any Questions??