Organising Data Into Graphs

Nari and Gus are on a quest to clean the earth and pick up rubbish that they find on the ground. "Gus, do you notice a pattern of the items we are finding?" "We can recycle them!" "We should put a graph here of all the items, so that nobody throws them away!" "Nari? What's a graph?" Let's help our friends learn all about organising data into graphs. You can use a graph to show different pieces of information all in one place! A graph, or a chart, shows information that is easy to read. We often use graphs to compare and contrast data, or pieces of information. When we compare and contrast, we look at the similarities and differences. Now that we have learnt a bit about graphs, let's help Nari. When organising data on a graph, always start by creating a title, this tells the reader what your graph is about. Nari's graph is all about the items he has found that are recyclable, so his title could be 'items to recycle'. Then, label the bottom based on what information you are showing on your graph. Nari found plastic, paper and cartons, so he can use those symbols to label his graph! Next, show your data using bars by filling in how many of each item you have. Nari found six plastic bottles, seven pieces of paper and four cartons. Finally, label this side of the graph to show how many of each item there is. How many plastic bottles did Nari find? Nari found 6 plastic bottles! Now, let's help Gus make their graph. Remember to start by creating a title. Gus chooses 'recycling in the community'. Then, label the bottom based on what information you are showing on your graph. Gus also found plastic, paper and cartons, so they can use those to label their graph too! Next, show your data using bars. Gus found four bottles, eight pieces of paper and two cartons. Finally, label this side of the graph to show how many of each item there is. We can learn a lot from Gus and Nari's graphs. For example, how many plastic bottles did Gus find in comparison to Nari? When we compare and contrast items, we can use words like more or fewer. Gus' graph shows four plastic bottles, and Nari's shows six. So, Gus found fewer plastic bottles than Nari. How can we compare how much paper Gus found in comparison to Nari? Gus' graph shows eight pieces of paper, and Nari's graph shows seven. So, Gus found more paper than Nari. Let's review! Today we learnt all about organising data into graphs! We learnt some very important things about a graph such as the title, labels and how to show the items using symbols. We also learnt how to compare items on graphs. Now, let's see those signs! Way to go Gus and Nari, reduce, reuse and recycle!