Graphing and Charting Tools to Meet Diverse Student Needs

Common Core State Standards: 
Model with Mathematics
Instructional Strategies: 
Modeling
Visual Representations

PowerUp What Works offers eight math teaching strategies to integrate technology into evidence-based teaching practices. . 

The ability to read, understand, interpret, and create graphs and charts is critical for all students, especially those who struggle and have disabilities.

Below are three websites that provide links to interactive tools.  The advantage of exploring the features and functions of different tools is to  better match tools to your students’ diverse abilities and needs. No one tool is right for every student.  You can select tools to further differentiate instruction for struggling students. 

  • Math Grapher  Students can draw and analyze functions and data in 2D and 3D.
  • Graphing tools  A list of graphing and charting tools recommended by Web 2.0: Cool Tools for Students. 
  • Create a Graph  The tools provided by NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) in Kids Zone are intuitive and easy to use.  

In addition to the interactive tools, some teachers may rely on worksheets for additional practice when students lack access to computers and other devices at home or school. Here are two websites to explore:

  • Data and Graphs  This unit shows students how to read and interpret graphs and also learn how to determine which graphs are appropriate for a given set of data.
  • Super Teacher Worksheets  This is a large collection of graph activities.

Consider ways you can appropriately use these tools in conjunction with any one of PowerUp's evidence-based math practices.

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