Being Smart with Graphs

1. Being Smart with Graphs Carolyn Staudt Andrew Zucker Rachel Kay The Concord Consortium, Concord, MA 01742 http://smartgraphs.org NSF Grant No. DRL-0918522 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.

2. The Concord Consortium • Nonprofit research and development organization • Dedicated to transforming education through technology• Pioneers of learning innovations for STEM• Dedicated to Open Source software• Primarily funded by NSF since starting in 1994

3. Graphs in Science and Math Graph comprehension is a critical part of education in math, science, and social science

4. Graphs are Vital to Everyone

5. 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.

6. Graphs are Vital in School

7. 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

8. Sample Activity Layout

9. Numeric ResponseVisual Highlights

10. Multiple ChoiceMultiple Hints

11. Multiple Non-Linear Functions

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

13. Animation and Labels

14. Linking Two Graphs with Animation

15. SmartGraphsResearch • Research activities focus on motion and gravity • Recruited 35 teachers • ~ PA physical science teachers • ~ 8th or 9th grade

16. Research Questions(Focusing on Physical Science, 8th/9th grade) • Do students using SmartGraphs activities learn more than students who do not use SmartGraphs? • What do teachers using SmartGraphs believe about the software? • Does greater teacher experience using SmartGraphs affect students’ learning gains? • Does scaffolding in our “slope tool” increase learning, compared to generic hints about slope? • Does it matter if teachers use a single sensor (and projector) versus students using sensors in groups?

17. Research Design, Year 2 • Year 1 teachers were divided into four groups • A: Used 4 activities again (20 classes) • C: Used 4 activities again, but one sensor per class version (21 classes) • B: Used 5 activities, no slope tool (8 classes) • D: 5 activities with slope tool (23 classes) • All teachers had 1-2 days of training, August 2012 Notes: Brackets indicate useful comparisons. Groups A and C were treatment group in Year 1.

18. 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

19. Findings: Research Question 1Do Students Who Use SmartGraphs Learn More? • UsingSmartGraphs 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)

20. Findings: Research Question 1(Cross-year comparison) n = 416

21. Findings: Research Question 2What 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. Build Your Own! Credit: Stephen Edmonds, Flickr (Creative Commons)

25. SmartGraphs Authoring Tool http://smartgraphs-authoring.concord.org/

26. 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

27. SmartGraphs Activities http://www.concord.org/projects/smartgraphs#curriculum

28. SmartGraphs Tablet App 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!

29. 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

30. Fin Thank you! carolyn@concord.org Any Questions? http://smartgraphs.org