Being Smart with Graphs

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DRL-918522.Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Carolyn Staudt Andrew Zucker

Rachel Kay

The Concord Consortium, Concord, MA 01742

http://smartgraphs.orgNSF Grant No. DRL-0918522

• • Nonprofit research and development organization Nonprofit research and development organization

• Dedicated to transforming education through • Dedicated to transforming education through technologytechnology

• Pioneers of learning innovations for STEM• Pioneers of learning innovations for STEM

• Dedicated to Open Source software• Dedicated to Open Source software

• Primarily funded by NSF since starting in 1994• Primarily funded by NSF since starting in 1994

The Concord Consortium

Graphs in Science and Math

Graph comprehension

is a critical part of

education in math,

science, and social

science

Graphs are Vital to Everyone

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The Problem

• Graphs are central to teaching and learning in many STEM courses

• However, many students, at all ages, have difficulty understanding graphs and the concepts represented in graphs

SmartGraphs is designed to help

students understand graphs

and the concepts they represent.

Graphs are Vital in School

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What is SmartGraphs?

• SmartGraphs is software to help students understand graphs and concepts in graphs

A runtime and an authoring system

• The software runs in a web browser (HTML5)

• Students use multi-page SmartGraphs activities

• Activities work on an iPad (no motion sensor)

• Scaffolding is a distinguishing feature

Sample Activity Layout

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Numeric ResponseVisual Highlights

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Multiple ChoiceMultiple Hints

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Multiple Non-Linear Functions

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Scaffolding

Shading, textual hints, highlighting of points both on the graph and the table…

Animation and Labels

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Linking Two Graphs with Animation

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SmartGraphs Research

Research Questions(Focusing on Physical Science, 8th/9th grade)

1. Do students using SmartGraphs activities learn more than students who do not use SmartGraphs?

2. What do teachers using SmartGraphs believe about the software?

3. Does greater teacher experience using SmartGraphs affect students’ learning gains?

4. Does scaffolding in our “slope tool” increase learning, compared to generic hints about slope?

5. Does it matter if teachers use a single sensor (and projector) versus students using sensors in groups?

Research Design, Year 2

Notes: Brackets indicate useful comparisons. Groups A and C were treatment group in Year 1.

Motion Activities

• Maria’s Run• Motion Toward and Away• How Fast Am I Moving?• Describing Velocity• Was Galileo Right?

Each activity takes about one class period.

http://www.concord.org/projects/smartgraphs#curriculum

Findings: Research Question 1

Do Students Who Use SmartGraphs Learn More?

  • Using SmartGraphs activities that focus on the motion of objects as a supplement to normal instructional activities in physical science classes results in statistically significant learning gains for students

• Random selection of classes

• Year 1 (exp. vs control): effect size 0.13

• Cross-year (group D): effect size 0.28 (HLM analysis confirms this finding)

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Findings: Research Question 1

(Cross-year comparison)

n = 416

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Findings: Research Question 2

What Did Teachers Think of SmartGraphs?

 

• Teachers reported that the activities helped students achieve learning goals for this unit of study, and that they would use the activities in the future

• 94% agreed or strongly agreed, “The activity helped my students meet the learning goals”

• 96% “would use this activity again” as is or with minor changes n = 325

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Graph Literacy Research

• Randomized trial in Maine

• n=378 students completing pre & post

• Experimental students’ gains were greater than control students’ gains(effect size = 0.35, p=.001; 50->64 %ile)

• Teachers had positive views about the graph literacy activities

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Graph Literacy Research

• Zooming, panning, stretching, and shrinking do not change the data within a graph

• Interpolating between points on a graph

• Determining the dependent and independent variables

• Identify the overall shape and direction of a line graph

• Identify the maxima and minima of a graph

• Estimating the slope of a line

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Build Your Own!

Credit: Stephen Edmonds, Flickr (Creative Commons)

SmartGraphs Authoring Tool

http://smartgraphs-authoring.concord.org/

The SmartGraphs Building Blocks

Image pane Graph pane Prediction graph Motion sensor graph Tables linked to a graph Constructed response

question (text box) Numeric response question Multiple-choice question

with various hint sequences

Pick-a-point question

Text hints Visual highlights on graphs,

of various kinds Automated hints to help

students understand slope Line of best fit Video embedded in an

iframe Legends on graphs Authored labels on graph Student labels on graph Animations

SmartGraphs Activities

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http://www.concord.org/projects/smartgraphs#curriculum

SmartGraphs Tablet App

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African Lions: Modeling Populations – Making sense of exponential growth.

Now available in iTunes –FREE!A version for Android tablets (Nexus 7 and Nexus 10) will be released

soon!

Potential Collaborators & Users

• We welcome collaboration, as well as users• Preliminary interest has been expressed by

both non-profits and for-profits• Collaborators can own the IP in activities

they create, or license them via Creative Commons

• Collaborators can contribute to the software itself, which is open source

• All software free and open source

Fin

Thank you!carolyn@concord.org

Any Questions?http://smartgraphs.org