(For more resources related to this topic, see here.)

This article explains how to create and embed 2D and 3D charts. They can also be interactive or static and we will insert them into our Moodle courses. We will mainly work with several spreadsheets in order to include diverse tools and techniques that are also present. The main idea is to display data in charts and provide students with the necessary information for their activities.

We will also work with a variety of charts and deal with statistics as a baseline topic in this article. We can either develop a chart or work with ready-to-use data. You can design these types of activities in your Moodle course, together with a math teacher.

When thinking of statistics, we generally have in mind a picture of a chart and some percentages representing the data of the chart. We can change that paradigm and create a different way to draw and read statistics in our Moodle course. We design charts with drawings, map charts, links to websites, and other interesting items.

We can also redesign the charts, comprising numbers, with different assets because we want not only to enrich, but also strengthen the diversity of the material for our Moodle course since some students are not keen on numbers and dislike activities with them. So, let’s give another chance to statistics!

There are different types of graphics to show statistics. Therefore, we show a variety of tools available to display different results. No matter what our subject is, we can include these types of graphics in our Moodle course.

You can use these graphics to help your students give weight to their arguments and express themselves using key points clearly. We teach students to include graphics, read them, and use them as a tool of communication.

We can also work with puzzles related to statistics. That is to say, we can invent a graph and give tips or clues to our students so that they can sort out which percentages belong to the chart. In other words, we can create a listening comprehension activity, a reading comprehension activity, or a math problem. We can just upload or embed the chart, create an appealing activity, and give clues to our students so that they can think of the items belonging to the chart.

Inserting column charts

In this activity, we work with the website http://populationaction.org/. We work with statistics about different topics that are related to each other. We can explore different countries and use several charts in order to draw conclusions. We can also embed the charts in our Moodle course.

Getting ready

We need to think of a country to work with. We can compare statistics of population, water, croplands, and forests of different countries in order to draw conclusions about their futures.

How to do it…

We go to the website mentioned earlier and follow some steps in order to get the HTML code to embed it in our Moodle course. In this case, we choose Canada. These are the steps to follow:

1. Enter http://populationaction.org/ in the browser window.
2. Navigate to Publications | Data & Maps.
3. Click on People in the Balance.
4. Click on the down arrow next to the Country or Region Name search block and choose Canada, as shown in the following screenshot:

   

5. Go to the bottom of the page and click on Share.
6. Copy the HTML code, as shown in the following screenshot:

   

7. Click on Done.

How it works…

It is time to embed the charts in our Moodle course. Another option is to draw the charts using a spreadsheet. So, we choose the weekly outline section where we want to add this activity and perform the following steps:

1. Click on Add an activity or resource.
2. Click on Forum | Add.
3. Complete the Forum name block.
4. Click on the down arrow in Forum type and choose Q and A forum.
5. Complete the Description block.
6. Click on the Edit HTML source icon.
7. Paste the HTML code that was copied.
8. Click on Update.
9. Click on the down arrow next to Subscription mode and choose Forced subscription.
10. Click on Save and display. The activity looks as shown in the following screenshot:

    

Embedding a line chart

In this recipe, we will present the estimated number of people (in millions) using a particular language over the Internet. To do this, we may include images in our spreadsheet in accordance with the method being used to design the activity. Instead of writing the name of the languages, we insert the flags that represent the language used. We design the line chart taking into account the statistical operations carried out at http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm.

Getting ready

We carry out the activity using Google Docs. We have to sign in and follow the steps required to design a spreadsheet file. We have several options for working with the document. After you have an account to work with Google Drive, let’s see how to make our line chart!

How to do it…

We work with s spreadsheet because we need to make calculations and create a chart. First, we need to create a document in the spreadsheet. Therefore, we need to perform the following steps:

1. Click on Create | Spreadsheet, as shown in the following screenshot:

   

2. Write the name of the languages spoken in the A column.
3. Write the figures in the B column (from the http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm website).
4. Select the data from A1 up to the B11 column. Click on Insert | Chart.
5. Edit your chart using the Chart Editor, as shown in the following screenshot:

   

6. Click on Insert.
7. Add the images of the flags corresponding to the languages spoken. Position the cursor over C1 and click on Insert | Image….
8. Another pop-up window will appear. You have several ways to upload images, as shown in the following screenshot:

   

9. Click on Choose an image to upload and insert the image from your computer.
10. Click on Select.
11. Repeat the same process for all the languages. Steps 7 to 11 are optional.
12. Click on the chart.
13. Click on the down arrow in Share | Publish chart…, as shown in the following screenshot:

    

14. Click on the down arrow next to Select a public format and choose Image, as shown in the following screenshot:

    

15. Copy the HTML code that appears, as shown in the previous screenshot.
16. Click on Done.

How it works…

We have just designed the chart that we want our students to work with. We are going to embed the chart in our Moodle course; another option is to share the spreadsheet and allow students to draw the chart. If you want to design a warm-up activity for students to guess or find out which the top languages used over the Internet are, you could add a chat, forum, or a question in the course.

In this recipe, we are going to create a wiki so that students can work together. So, select the weekly outline section where you want to add the activity and perform the following steps:

1. Click on Add an activity or resource.
2. Click on Wiki | Add.
3. Complete the Wiki name and Description blocks.
4. Click on the Edit HTML source icon and paste the HTML code that we have previously copied. Then click on Update.
5. Complete the First page name block.
6. Click on Save and return to course. The activity looks as shown in the following screenshot: