The previous activity asked students to identify the variables, or characters, in the ‘story’ that a graph represents. Now it is time to find out what happens between these ‘characters’. In mathematical terms, this means examining the graph for how the variables relate to each other at different points and whether that relationship changes.
Students often find it difficult to interpret what a gradient signifies, especially in distance/time graphs. Activity 3 asks the students to think about this through a card sort. Activity 4 then asks the students to use their knowledge about reading and interpreting graphs by making up a story as reporters for the Big Rickshaw Race.
Prepare enough copies of the card sort in Resource 2.
This activity works well in pairs or in threes. It is less effective for bigger groups, because the students will not all be able to see and read what is on the cards easily.
Remember to tell the class that ‘every graph tells a story’.
Explain to your students what they are required to do in this activity, using the following prompts:
Explain to your students what they are required to do in this activity, using the prompts below.
Figure 2 is a graph that represents the motion of two of the auto rickshaws racing each other as they approach and go around a bend in the road in the annual Big Auto Rickshaw Race.
Try to visualise what is going on and answer the following questions:
I thought that using Activity 3 would be too easy for the students. However, while we were using it, both I and the students became aware of the many misconceptions they had. I asked them to work on the card sort in pairs at first. We then had whole-class discussions that I orchestrated by holding up a graph card and asking what the story was, or holding up a descriptor card and asking what the matching graph was. I insisted on the students giving their justifications for what they said. After each justification, I asked the class who agreed, who disagreed and who was not too sure about the justification. This is how the misconceptions got aired and worked on. The task did take longer than I had anticipated but it was very worthwhile.
Activity 3 gave the students the knowledge and confidence to tackle Activity 4. The graph seemed simple at first, but the questions drew attention to some unusual elements – the students expressed surprise when they noticed them. The part where they had to be a reporter was funny. At first they were rather shy about engaging with it, so I invited Shamira, who I know loves acting, to come and sit at my desk and pretend to be the reporter. She had a go and I then asked others to comment constructively on what she had said, including on the interpretation of the graph. Shamira adjusted her story and had another go at it. After that the students were happy to try it out for themselves. Some did it in pairs, some in threes or fours. What I liked was that, while they were ‘reporting’, they were looking at the graph and interpreting the information that was there.
There was an addition to this activity that I loved. During break time I saw two students ‘racing’ against each other and another student pretending to be reporting on the race, including mimicking holding a microphone.
![]() Pause for thought
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