Diagrams in the UK national school curriculum

Abstract

We review the use of diagrams in the UK National School Curriculum (NC) and assess it in the light of current research on childrens' graph comprehension. It is noted that some diagrams are very ubiquitous (e.g. illustrations and bar graphs) whereas other representations which are potentially appropriate for younger children (e.g. hierarchies) are relatively rarely used. We also query some of the teaching practices advocated in the NC in that, for example, diagrammatic representations are conflated with figurative illustrations (pictographs). Suggestions for improving the NC are offered in the conclusion. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.