Proposal of a Method for Estimating the Acquisition of Graph Comprehension Ability Based on Students’ Descriptive Answers

This paper proposes a method for estimating the acquisition status of students’ graph comprehension ability based on their descriptive answer text. Applying the three-level of graph comprehension theory, we designed a method to categorize students’ graph comprehension ability into three levels. The categorization is based on two metrics: 1) degree-a statistic of co-occurrence networks measuring of variety, and 2) level of graph comprehension-frequency of use of words indicating degree adverbs and words indicating trends. We then designed an “expression-development map” based on these quantities and classified students’ graph comprehension abilities according to which of the four quadrants they belonged to. To confirm the validity of the designed it, we applied the map to surveyed descriptive answer text for nine types of graph generated by elementary, junior/senior high school, and university students. The results showed that the descriptions became more sophisticated as students progressed through educational stages, indicating the validity of the map.