Computer-Aided Graphing: a comparative study

Despite the massive investment of time and money in information technology it is difficult to get clear evidence of ‘value-added’ in relation to IT use in our schools. This comparative study was conducted to investigate if there are any advantages to pupils using computer generated graphs as opposed to plotting them manually. The context of the study was a secondary science practical activity involving electrical characteristic graphs. There was evidence that plotting graphs manually not only caused a time penalty but difficulties in drawing the best fit lines reinforced, rather than corrected, misunderstandings about the relationships between the variables. The positive effects noted when using the computer approach seemed to be most significant for younger and less able pupils. The data on pupil-teacher discussions suggested that this was a significant factor in assisting the development of pupils’ interpretation skills whatever approach was adopted. The study was able to make suggestions on the best teaching approach to take when asking pupils to interpret information presented in a graphical form.