Working with diagrams

Introduction

This unit will look at how pictures and diagrams can be used to represent information and ideas. In mathematics, science and technology (MST) subjects, we can often summarise how ideas or processes are connected much more neatly in a diagram than in words, or we can show how something looks and works by drawing a picture of it. This means that, as a learner, you need to be comfortable with pictures and diagrams. You need to learn how to read them – how to extract information from them and interpret what they mean. And you need to learn how to draw pictures and diagrams of your own, so that you can capture your own ideas and interpretations on paper. So, part of this unit deals with the reading of diagrams and part with the drawing of diagrams, although it is often difficult to separate the two activities.

This unit is an adapted extract from the Good Study Guide [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]