Curriculum Idea : Graphing Real World Data with Elementary Students

Here at Pleasant Hill Elementary we are participating in the GLOBE program called Operation Ruby Throat. Teachers and students have classroom hummingbird feeders, and they count the number of visits to the feeder that occur during a particular length of time. We talk extensively about the dimorphic nature of ruby throated hummingbirds, and students have to take data based on the number of adults, juveniles, males and females that come to the feeder.

I will be entering the data on the GLOBE website for scientist to use, but the real question is, “What do students do with all this data?” I’ve found that students K-5 need experience reading and creating graphs with real world data. While we can easily use Microsoft Excel or Google Spreadsheets to create data and charts, one of the neatest graphing applications I have found to use with Elementary students is Create a Graph . This simple yet colorful website is visually stimulating yet easily manipulated by all young students. We use Create a Graph here at PHES to help students see when the hummingbirds are coming to the feeders most often (line graph), to see if we have more males or females (bar graph), and to see if we have more adults or juveniles.

You should implement Create a Graph into your science, math, and social studies curriculums. For a site tutorial, click here!