How Do You Read Charts and Graphs?

How Do You Read Charts and Graphs? — page 1 — Attention Getters When you want to learn about something you might choose a library book or look online When you are looking at your choices what catches your eye For many people a page filled with words does not seem very interesting However when there are pictures mixed with the words the page suddenly seems more appealing Images like charts and graphs placed near text in a book can make a topic easier to understand 4

How Do You Read Charts and Graphs? — page 2 — Vocabulary Data are number facts that can be used in calculating or planning You may have heard this saying A picture is worth a thousand words It means that pictures can give a lot of information quickly Charts and graphs are drawings that do just that A chart shows information usually in rows and columns A graph shows how one type of information relates to another Both charts and graphs can be very useful They use colors numbers shapes and some words to make data come alive When you flip through a book charts and graphs grab your attention 5

How Do You Read Charts and Graphs? — page 3 — ChArts vs GrAphs Charts and graphs are similar They are visual displays of data You can learn a lot about a topic just by noticing things in a picture Perhaps you notice how large one object is compared to another Charts are useful for comparing two or more types of things Graphs can be used to compare things or to show how things change over time This graph shows types of food and how much of them people should eat 6

How Do You Read Charts and Graphs? — page 4 — Every chart or graph has the same basic parts It has a title to tell you what the subject is It has two or more categories sometimes called variables Most important a chart or graph always has data The data is the information that is shown in picture form The pictures of data help you to understand the message that the chart or graph is trying to send 7 The curve of this graph shows how temperatures rose and fell over one year Compare and Contrast What are some things that you could show with a chart What are some things that you could show with a graph

3

PAGE 3 OF 29

›

The only kids' eBook subscription service that offers thousands of high-quality books from well known publishers like HarperCollins, National Geographic and others.

JavaScript Required

Whoops! We're sorry but Epic doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Check your web browser's settings to make sure it's enabled.