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#618, v1.0 Published:
#1288, v1.0 Published:

Title

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1Figure of the Day 1Figure of the Week: Environmental Data Analysis/Statistics Version

Authors

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1Arietta Fleming-Davies (University of San Diego) 1Jennifer Prairie ()
2Jeremy M Wojdak (Radford University) 2Jennifer Prairie ()
3Hayley Orndorf (University of Pittsburgh)   

Description

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1<p>Math anxiety can prevent students from engaging with and solving problems even when they have the requisite knowledge or skills.&nbsp; Interpreting graphs in particular can be difficult for many students because understanding visual data is not a formulaic process - there isn&rsquo;t a single set of steps that always work, like there might be for solving a quadratic equation.</p>  1<p>This adaptation of the original BIOMAAP Figure of the Day resource was used weekly in an environmental data analysis/statistics course (sophomore undergraduate level for environmental and ocean science majors).&nbsp;</p>
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3<p>&ldquo;Figure of the Day&rdquo; is a clever approach to help students learn to interpret graphs that avoids inducing anxiety in students by establishing from the outset that students will not have all the information necessary to be 100% correct. Graphs are presented without axes labels or legends, and interpretation is turned into a puzzle, where any observation about the data is potentially helpful.&nbsp; What results is that students look much more carefully at all the details of a graph - the colors, sizes, shapes, arrangement, magnitude, and try to piece together a story.&nbsp; This is exactly what experienced scientists do, much more often than starting with a figure legend, for example.&nbsp; Different students will notice different features, and the value of multiple student voices is often really evident - small groups or a class can together often uncover the meaning of a graph even without the axes labels!</p>  3<p>Each week (same day of the week ideally so students expect it and it becomes part of their routine), the figure of the week is projected at the very beginning of class. Students were told to brainstorm with their neighbors for the first 5 minutes or so. Things that they were told to look for were types of variables (explanatory vs. response variables, categorical vs. numerical variables, etc.) and any clues about what those variables might be (values of the response variables or other clues). After students had a few minutes to brainstorm, I solicited responses from the class. A student&#39;s response may be an observation, which you can ask them elaborate on. Or a student&#39;s response may be a prediction (i.e. &quot;I think the x-axis might represent time&quot;), in which case you might ask them to explain why they made that guess/prediction. It is better not to tell students they are right/wrong, and it is important to emphasize (especially at the beginning of the semester when the activity is still new) that the idea is not necessarily to get to the right answer as a class, but look for clues and try to reason out ideas. If students are especially quite or get stuck, you might prompt them a bit more specifically (i.e. &quot;Who notices something about the x-axis?&quot;).&nbsp;</p>
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5<p>Figure of the Day can be used at the beginning of each class period, taking 5 minutes or less. Professional scientists didn&rsquo;t learn how to interpret data in an afternoon, but instead from reading 100s of papers. Students need the same repetition.&nbsp; Figures in the collection are roughly ordered by difficulty. The notes section for each figure gives the instructor some ideas for potential student responses or interesting features of the graphs. Also see our<a href="https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/biomaap/collections/figure-of-the-day" target="_blank"> collection of community-contributed </a>Figures of the Day on various biology and quantitative themes, and please contribute your own favorite figure!</p>  5<p>In the attached powerpoint, the figures are in the order that they were used in my class, and labeled in the notes section with the week of the course that they corresponded to and the topics that were being covered that week since it may be helpful for someone else trying to use this resource fo a similar type class. In some weeks (but not all),&nbsp;the figure of the week was chosen to align with a specific concept from the course.</p>
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7<p>Do you want to know more about implementing this material? Have a question for the author? Used the material and have feedback? As a&nbsp;featured <a href="https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/quant_bio_online/teachertalk" target="_blank">Resource Walk-Through</a> in the <a href="https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/quant_bio_online/">Teaching Quantitative Biology Online group</a>, you can learn more about the module and participate in a discussion:&nbsp;</p>    
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9<p><a class="btn btn-primary" href="https://qubeshub.org/community/groups/quant_bio_online/teachertalk#figofweek" target="_blank">Resource Walk-Through</a></p>   

Attachments

1 file — ./Figure of the Day/BIOMAAPfiguresoftheday1.2.pptx 1 file — BioMAAP_Figure_of_the_Week.pptx
2 file — ./Figure of the Day/card_figure_of_the_day.jpg