PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ READING LEVELS OF LINE GRAPHS

Abstract

The aim of this research was to describe the errors conveyed and reading levels reached by 6th and 7th grade Chilean primary school children when working with line graphs. To achieve these objectives, we gave a questionnaire, previously validated by experts with two open-ended tasks, to a sample of 745 students from different Chilean cities. In the first task, we asked the children to read the title of the graph, describe the variables represented and perform a direct and inverse reading of a data value. In the second task, where we address the visual effect of a scale change in a representation, the students had to select the line graph most favourable for a candidate. Although both tasks were considered easy for the grade levels targeted, only some of the students achieved the highest reading level and many made occasional errors in the reading of the graphs