TINKERPLOTS (Data Management Software), Gr. 4-8

Tinkerplots is a software construction set of basic operations (stack, order, separate) that allows students to build their own plots to analyze data.

• It introduces a new way of making graphs – by using a construction set of graph pieces that students add one at a time to build what they want. Graphing has never been so easy and fun!

• Students can explore their graphs to identify common measures such as the mean, median, mode, and more. In addition, they can drag an outlier and watch these measures change dynamically!

• Its colorful, easy-to-learn interface encourages student activity.

• Data coloring helps students detect subtle relationships in their data.

• Students can create, import, or download data relevant to their classes, or investigate more than 40 data sets included with TinkerPlots.

• Using the construction set students can graph data in multiple ways—including dot plots, map graphs, histograms, scatter plots, and box graphs. Students can highlight a case in one graph and see where it is in all the other graphs. They can add text and pictures, turning a TinkerPlots file into a colorful report.

Resources: These resources were found in the OSAPAC resource locator for Tinkerplots.

1. This details how to find the BackPack file and shows how to manipulate the data. The elements of the program are illustrated through screen shots (from Karen Brooks Nelson, WCDSB).

2. An introductory activity to familiarize teachers with the Ministry licensed Tinkerplots program. The activity uses the Olympics Data collection that is installed with the Tinkerplots application. (from Doug Peterson, GECDSB)