By Madison E. King (University of Illinois) and Emily E.W. Buhnerkempe (University of Illinois University Laboratory High School) and V.N. Vimal Rao (University of Illinois)
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Graphs are everywhere: on the news, in the media, and in the textbooks used to teach students. It is critical for students to learn how to determine what graphs “do and do not reveal” (GAISE, 2016). One popular graph interpretation activity is What’s Going on in This Graph (WGOITG) by The New York Times. The activity involves presenting students with a graph and having them respond to four “general wonderment” questions. However, it is unclear whether this activity promotes students’ ability to critically question, analyze, and examine the data and statistical ideas presented in the graphs. We collected data from 58 high school students taking a statistics class. Approximately once a month, students completed the WGOITG activity. Students’ written responses to the four prompts were collected via a Google Form and analyzed using the Critical Statistical Literacy Habits of Mind framework (CSLHM; Bailey & McCulloch, 2023), adapted to include more categories than only emergent and robust codes. Responses were coded as “0 – nonexistent,” “0.5 – general wonderment,” “1 – emergent,” “1.5 – developing,” or “2 – robust,” and analyzed over time to identify growth in students’ abilities. Three key findings emerged. Students struggled to critically and meaningfully engage with complex graphs and data visualizations, often accepting on faith the quality and conclusions of the data presented. Students’ questions focused on external etiological implications rather than on what the graphs did and did not reveal. The prompts in the WGOITG activity may be encouraging surface-level questioning, such as “general wonderment,” and alternate prompts may better support deeper engagement. These findings highlight the difficulty students have in critically examining graphs and data visualizations they are likely to encounter in social media and news. Growth in this ability does not appear to automatically come with practice and exposure. Intentional instruction and prompts that better elicit critical examination may be necessary to improve the efficacy of the WGOITG activity for statistics students. Students were predominantly high school juniors and seniors, with class sizes of approximately 20–30 students. The school is atypical in that there is an application process for admission, and many students are children of faculty at a nearby R1 university.