7. Data Storytelling: Communicating Insights Through Visualizations

Learning Objectives Identify the key parts of a bar chart and a pie chart, including titles and labels. Explain what a data visualization is and why it helps tell a story. Choose between a bar chart or a pie chart for a simple set of data. Read a simple visualization to find the most, least, or equal values. Create a simple bar chart on paper from a small table of data. Describe the 'story' a simple chart is telling in one sentence. If you wanted to show your friends the most popular pizza topping in your class, would you use a long list of words or a colorful picture? 🍕 Let's find out why pictures are so powerful! Today, we're going to learn how to be data storytellers! We will turn boring lists of numbers into exciting pictures called data visualizati...

TermDefinitionExample DataInformation we collect about things, like numbers, words, or choices.The number of students in our class who like dogs (12), cats (8), and fish (3) is data. Data VisualizationA picture made from data, like a chart or a graph. It helps our brains understand information quickly.A colorful chart showing which pet is the most popular. We often call this a 'graph'. Bar ChartA chart that uses rectangle bars to compare different groups. The taller the bar, the bigger the number.A chart with a tall bar for 'dogs' and a short bar for 'fish' to show more students like dogs. Pie ChartA circle chart that is cut into slices to show parts of a whole. It's like a pizza or a pie!A circle showing that half the class (a big slice) chose cheese pi...

The Bar Chart Rule Use a Bar Chart to compare amounts of different things. When you have data for separate groups, like the number of votes for different candidates or the number of different colored cars in a parking lot, a bar chart is the best way to see which group is biggest or smallest. The Pie Chart Rule Use a Pie Chart to show parts of one whole group. When all your data adds up to one total thing (like 100% of the class), a pie chart is perfect. It shows how that one thing is divided up, like slices of a pie. The Label Everything Rule Every chart needs a title and labels for its parts. A chart without labels is a mystery picture! Always add a main title to say what the chart is about, and add labels to the sides (axes) or slices so everyone knows what the ba...