Fig 1.
Example of the questions students answered from the assessment.
The dropdown is the exact same for each scenario, Q.12 shows a bar graph with relevant X axis variables for that scenario.
Fig 2.
Aggregated data on how students answered dropdown questions.
Asterisk denotes the correct answer.
Table 1.
Demographic data of aggregated data from student assessments (N = 3506), students could choose not to disclose this information.
Table 2.
Definitions for four categories observed from analyzing student responses to what information error bars represent.
Fig 3.
Frequencies of codes in how students responded to the question, “What type of information do the error bars provide you about the data represented in each bar”.
(a) shows frequencies out of all students (N = 3506), frequencies do not add up to 100 because students could have used codes from multiple categories. Within each category are the percentage of students who used codes for (b) Broad Terms, (c) Form of Error, (d) Purpose, and (e) Trend & Analysis. The number of codes used to calculate frequencies are 1433 for Broad Terms, 1082 for Form of Error, 2097 for Purpose, and 1400 for Trend & Analysis.
Fig 4.
Venn Diagram showing the breakdown of categories used across student assessment (n = 3506).
Fig 5.
Frequency of student responses to the dropdown question based on a student created graph within the GraphSmarts assessments.
The graph being analyzed is in the upper right corner for each stacked bar graph. A chi-square test was performed, and a single asterisk represents a frequency that was significantly lower than expected. Double asterisk represents a frequency that was significantly higher than expected. Bar (raw) is a bar graph created with raw data; N = 1071. Bar (ymean) is a bar graph with just means; N = 484. Bar (ymean + errorbars) is a bar graph with means and error bars; N = 391. Catscatter (raw) is a graph similar to graph 3; N = 205. Catscatter (ymean) is a graph with a dot representing the mean for each group; N = 73. Quantscatter is a traditional scatterplot with two numerical variables; N = 184.
Fig 6.
Frequency of codes used from student explanation of data error bars represent across the categories (a), combinations of categories (b), and specific codes within the categories (c, d, e, f) based on the graph a student created within the GraphSmarts Assessment.
A chi-square test was performed and a single asterisk represents a frequency that was significantly lower than expected. Double asterisk represents a frequency that was significantly higher than expected. Letters above bars represent significant differences from post hoc Dunn test after a significant Kruskal Wallis test. Bar (raw) is a bar graph created with raw data; N = 1071. Bar (ymean) is a bar graph with just means; N = 484. Bar (ymean + errorbars) is a bar graph with means and error bars; N = 391. Catscatter (raw) is a graph similar to graph 3; N = 205. Catscatter (ymean) is a graph with a dot representing the mean for each group; N = 73. Quantscatter is a traditional scatterplot with two numerical variables; N = 184.
Fig 7.
Graphic showing the continuum results between raw bar graphs and bar graphs with error bars.
Table 3.
Example quotes from students’ responses to “What type of information do the error bars provide you about the data represented in each bar?” based on the graph they made.
Fig 8.
Graphs students made by select demographics including student year (a), reported major (b), and course type (c).
A chi-square test was performed, and a single asterisk represents a frequency that was significantly lower than expected. Double asterisk represents a frequency that was significantly higher than expected. Frequencies do not add up to 100 for (a) or (b) due to not all students reporting demographics and for (c) due not reporting on non-majors courses. Bar (raw) is a bar graph created with raw data; N = 1071. Bar (ymean) is a bar graph with just means; N = 484. Bar (ymean + errorbars) is a bar graph with means and error bars; N = 391. Catscatter (raw) is a graph similar to graph 3; N = 205. Catscatter (ymean) is a graph with a dot representing the mean for each group; N = 73. Quantscatter is a traditional scatterplot with two numerical variables; N = 184.
Fig 9.
Frequencies for answer confidence for students answering about what data are represented by error bars depending on what graph they made (a), what year they were (b), and what their reported major was (c).
A chi-square test was performed and a single asterisk represents a frequency that was significantly lower than expected. Double asterisk represents a frequency that was significantly higher than expected. Bar (raw) is a bar graph created with raw data; N = 1071. Bar (ymean) is a bar graph with just means; N = 484. Bar (ymean + errorbars) is a bar graph with means and error bars; N = 391. Catscatter (raw) is a graph similar to graph 3; N = 205. Catscatter (ymean) is a graph with a dot representing the mean for each group; N = 73. Quantscatter is a traditional scatterplot with two numerical variables; N = 184.