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Re: graph interpretation, was "Proper" scientific notation



Then at 12:56 3/10/98 -0500, John Gastineau wrote:

Interpreting a graph is a separate skill from drawing a graph. Teaching
graph drawing does NOT teach graph interpretation....
If you want students to interpret graphs, have them interpret graphs.
...
John E. Gastineau

Well, yes, and no. I agree that separate skills are involved, but I
assumed it went without saying that if we ask students to make a
logarithmic graph, they will be expected to interpret it as well: such
matters as the meaning of the slope in relation to the equation and how to
obtain the constants in an equation from the fitted curve. What's the
purpose of the graph anyway? Not just to "draw" a pretty picture, I hope.

I do think (from my experience) that the student's experience in
constructing the graph greatly increases the likelihood that the student
will intelligently interpret such graphs. If their only experience is
interpreting graphs made by others, you'll have to "teach" them how do do
the interpretation. If they learned how to make log or log-log graphs
themselves, they'll *know* how to interpret them, with much less
instruction. Of course one can argue that if they've received enough
instruction to interpret them, they should also *know* how to make one.
Seems to me that the success of both processes goes together and that
it's good pedagogy to involve students in all parts of both of them.

But then, I'm old-fashioned enough to think that students also learn more
in lab if they construct the lab equipment themselves, from scratch,
rather than being presented with a lab station already correctly assembled
with commercial black boxes. Shows how out of touch I am with today's
pedagogy.

-- Donald

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Dr. Donald E. Simanek Office: 717-893-2079
Professor of Physics FAX: 717-893-2048
Lock Haven University, Lock Haven, PA. 17745
dsimanek@eagle.lhup.edu http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek
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