8/3/2019 Critical Thinking With Visualizations

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/critical-thinking-with-visualizations 1/3

8/3/2019 Critical Thinking With Visualizations

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/critical-thinking-with-visualizations 2/3

 Names:

Browse for about fifteen minutes, and then choose one of the interactive graphs above to look at in more

detail.

Here’s what you need to discuss and answer (Go ahead and print this out, or type it up as you go. If you do

type your answer, use a nonridiculous twelve point font other than Times New Roman.):

First things first: Which one did you choose?

Why did you choose it? What made it interesting to you? The layout? The subject? The information?

Why?

What does the graph show you? This is a two-parter: What is each designed to show you, and what does

each allow you to infer?

In what way is the graph interactive? What variables does it allow you to manipulate?

What’s the most surprising piece of information on the graph?

What’s one question you would like to ask the creator of the graph?

What are two questions you think might be used to test if someone has understood the information in the

graph?

Thinking about text-driven nonfiction (i.e., data charts, books and articles), what does the interactive

graphic allow a consumer of information to do that a regular book does not? Be as specific as possible.

8/3/2019 Critical Thinking With Visualizations

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/critical-thinking-with-visualizations 3/3

Continue comparing and contrasting traditional text and visual presentations like the interactive graphics.

Which do you prefer? Why? What does text allow that these presentations do not?

How is reading the graph and manipulating it like or unlike having a conversation with a text-based piece of 

nonfiction?

For the following questions, think about all the graphs that you explored (i.e., more than one graph):

What makes these interactive graphics better than a regular chart? What makes it worse? When might youuse one rather than the other?

What are some of the drawbacks of this format? What does is left out of each graph (if anything)?

Compare and contrast the graph you have chosen with one of the others – specify which one here:

Which makes the best use of the possibilities of the format? Why?

How might you have designed each one differently? Why?

Finally, if you were creating this assignment, which 2 questions would you remove? What 2 new questions

would you replace them with?