Graphs in Science… Ms. Solernou 08/26/19 5th Grade

What are Graphs? Graphs are drawings that show math information with lines, shapes, and colors. Graphs are also known as charts. People use graphs to compare amounts of things or other numbers. Graphs are useful because they can be easier to understand than numbers and words alone.

Graphs in Science? By organizing data, a scientist can more easily interpret what has been observed. Since most of the data scientist collect is quantitative, data tables and charts are usually used to organize the information. Graphs are created from data tables. Graphs are a useful tool in science. They make the data easy to see. One of the most valuable uses for graphs is to show data collected during an experiment. The graph shows your results.

So how do we begin? You are gathering data in an investigation. You and others will have a hard time making sense of the information unless you organize it. When the data is organized in a table or graph, you can understand their meaning more easily.

How do I organize my data? Data table Tally Chart A data table can be organized in any way that lets you compare data easily. Made of columns and rows Example: In some investigations, you will count how many times you see something or how many times something happens. A tally chart is an easy way to keep track of your count. A tally chart always has only three columns.

I have my data… Now what? You can use your data and make a graph! But which graph would be best? Circle Graph Line plots Bar Graphs Double Bar graphs Line Graphs

How to do a Circle Graph: Shows parts of a whole (percentages) The parts always add up to 100% You can easily tell which part is biggest, or which part is smallest. How to do a Circle Graph: Enter your data into a table. Convert the data into percentages. Determine the sectors of the pie chart. Use a protractor to draw a circle. Divide each section of the pie chart.

Favorite Type of Movie:

Line Plot… Lets you see how data are grouped. Example: Name: # of Meteors: Gaby 6 Daniel 4 Kristy 8 Jonathan 1 Christopher 3 Millie Debbie Lydia Lets you see how data are grouped. Example: One night, you and your friends count meteors, or “shooting stars”. You record each person’s final count on a table: Draw a number line that includes all the numbers in the 2nd column: Draw an x for each friend’s meteor count. What was the largest number of meteors counted? What was the smallest? X 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Bar Graph: Shows the same kind of data for different things, Used to compare numbers or objects. The numbers are shown by the lengths of the bars. Vertical axis (Y axis) : has the numbers (tells you the heights) Horizontal axis (X axis): tells you what is being measured. Always give your bar graph a title. Some bar graphs have horizontal bars (not as common)

Top is a single bar graph. Double Bar Graph: The Double bar graph may be used to compare two or more sets of data on the same graph when comparing the item being measured. Double Bar Graph

How to do a Bar graph: Decide on a title for your graph (Pet Popularity). Draw the vertical (y axis) and horizontal axes (x axis) Label the horizontal axis (Type of Pet). Write the names of pets where the bars will be (Parakeet, Dog, and so on). Label the vertical axes (Number of Students). Decide on the scale. Explain that you should consider the least and the greatest number shown on the graph. Discuss what range of numbers should be shown on this bar graph (Begin at 0 and count by 5s to 25). Draw a bar to show the total for each item. Pet Popularity Type of Pet Number of Pets Parakeet 9 Dog 22 Cat 53 Hamster 7

Line graph: Shows how data changed as time passed. The shape of the line tells you whether something increased, decreased, or stayed the same. Vertical axis: how many shoes Horizontal axis: the months

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