Activity F: Bar chart or line graph?

For general information about the activities, and an overview of those currently available, see the Teacher discussion activities page.

The activity

How do you decide whether to chose a bar chart or a line graph when either could be drawn from the data? What is the difference between continuous and discrete data?

Teacher Activity F: Bar chart or line graph?

Further information about the issues raised by this activity can be found in the guidance booklet as described below.

What is in the guidance?

The guidance booklet is published on the ASE website and can be directly downloaded from here:

The Language of Mathematics in Science: A Guide for Teachers
of 11-16 Science

Discussion of the key ideas that are relevant to this activity can be found in the guidance booklet on the following pages:

• Section 1.4  Naming different types of data (p 12)
• Section 3.7  Bar charts and line graphs (pp 32-34)