TinkerPlots
Encyclopedia
TinkerPlots is exploratory data analysis
software designed for use by students in grades 4-8. It was designed by Clifford Konold and Craig Miller
at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
and is published by Key Curriculum Press. It has some similarities with Fathom, and runs on Windows XP
or later and Mac OS 10.4 or later. The program allows users to enter their own data
or to import them from other applications or the Web. The program also comes with 40 multivariate data sets.
Using TinkerPlots, students can make a large variety of graphs
, including those specified for middle school in NCTM’s Principles and Standards for School Mathematics
. But rather than making these graphs directly using commands, students construct them by progressively organizing cases using basic operations including “stack,” “order,” and “separate.” Responding to these operations, case icons animate into different screen positions. The interface was based on observations of people organizing “data cards” on a table to make graphs to answer specific questions
Innovations of TinkerPlots include using a superimposed color gradient to detect covariation in two numeric attributes and a “hat plot,” a reformulated and generalized version of the box plot
.
Exploratory data analysis
In statistics, exploratory data analysis is an approach to analysing data sets to summarize their main characteristics in easy-to-understand form, often with visual graphs, without using a statistical model or having formulated a hypothesis...
software designed for use by students in grades 4-8. It was designed by Clifford Konold and Craig Miller
Craig Miller
Craig Aston Miller is a former English cricketer. Miller was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm fast-medium. He was born in Wanstead, Essex....
at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
and is published by Key Curriculum Press. It has some similarities with Fathom, and runs on Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
or later and Mac OS 10.4 or later. The program allows users to enter their own data
Data
The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
or to import them from other applications or the Web. The program also comes with 40 multivariate data sets.
Using TinkerPlots, students can make a large variety of graphs
Graphics
Graphics are visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings, Line Art, graphs, diagrams, typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawings,or...
, including those specified for middle school in NCTM’s Principles and Standards for School Mathematics
Principles and Standards for School Mathematics
Principles and Standards for School Mathematics are guidelines produced by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in 2000, setting forth recommendations for mathematics educators. They form a national vision for preschool through twelfth grade mathematics education in the US and Canada...
. But rather than making these graphs directly using commands, students construct them by progressively organizing cases using basic operations including “stack,” “order,” and “separate.” Responding to these operations, case icons animate into different screen positions. The interface was based on observations of people organizing “data cards” on a table to make graphs to answer specific questions
Innovations of TinkerPlots include using a superimposed color gradient to detect covariation in two numeric attributes and a “hat plot,” a reformulated and generalized version of the box plot
Box plot
In descriptive statistics, a box plot or boxplot is a convenient way of graphically depicting groups of numerical data through their five-number summaries: the smallest observation , lower quartile , median , upper quartile , and largest observation...
.
Critical acclaim
Additional References
- Bakker, A., Derry, J., & Konold, C. (2006). Using technology to support diagrammatic reasoning about center and variation. In A. Rossman & B. Chance (Eds.) Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Teaching Statistics (ICOTS) CD-ROM. Salvador, Bahai, Brazil, July 2-7, 2006.
- Konold, C., & Lehrer, R. (in press). Technology and mathematics education: An essay in honor of Jim Kaput. In L. English (Ed.), Handbook of International Research in Mathematics Education, (2nd edition). New York: Routledge.
- Rubin, A., Hammerman, J., & Konold, C. (2006). Exploring informal inference with interactive visualization software. In A. Rossman & B. Chance (Eds.) Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Teaching Statistics (ICOTS) CD-ROM. Salvador, Bahai, Brazil, July 2-7, 2006.
Educational Materials using TinkerPlots
- Konold, C. (2005). Exploring Data with TinkerPlots. Key Curriculum Press, ISBN 1-55953-750-7. Contents: Getting Started, Learning TinkerPlots, Teaching with TinkerPlots, Activities, Activity Notes. http://www.keypress.com/x18150.xml
- Brodesky, A., Doherty, A., & Stoddard, J. (2008). Digging into Data with TinkerPlots. Key Curriculum Press, 225 pp. ISBN 978-1-55953-885-5. Contents: (1) Comparisons, Distributions, and Line Plots: Exploring Data about Cats, (2) Comparisons and Boxplots: Investigating Data about Middle-School Students, (3) Comparisons using Formulas: Investigating Data about Signatures and Words, (4) Measures of Center and Histograms: Analyzing Safety Data, (5) Relationships between Attributes and Scatter Plots: Investigating Sports Data. http://www.keypress.com/x17494.xml
- Walsh, T. (2009). The Survey Toolkit: Collecting Information, Analyzing Data, and Writing Reports. Contents: Choosing a Research Question, Developing and Giving the Survey, Analyzing Survey Data, Sharing Results. 112pp. ISBN 978-1-55953-886-2. http://www.keypress.com/x22092.xml
- TinkerPlots Instructional Movies (2004). These 5 short movies where developed by the Statistics Education Research Group in 2004, and published with TinkerPlots, in Quicktime and AVI format. Titles: TinkerPlots Basics, Adding Data, Making Common Graphs, Comparing Groups, Exploring Relationships. http://www.keypress.com/x4164.xml
- TinkerPlots Workshop Guide (2007). ISBN 978-1-55953-961-6. http://www.keypress.com/x20058.xml
- TinkerPlots Walkthrough Guide and Quick Reference Card (included in Instructors Evaluation Edition).
History
- TinkerPlots 2.0 was published in April, 2011.
- TinkerPlots 1.1 was published in June, 2009.
- TinkerPlots 1.0 was published in September, 2005.
External links
- Official TinkerPlots web site
- Key Curriculum Press
- TinkerPlots site at University of Massachusetts AmherstUniversity of Massachusetts AmherstThe University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...