Options for creating digital graphs

Graphing is an important skill for students to master, and online graphing tools as well as software programs provide a variety of options when it comes to creating original graphs. Students and others have MANY more options than simply using spreadsheet programs like Excel (in MS Office) and Calc (in OpenOffice) when it comes to graphing.

The National Center for Educational Statistics provides a free “create a graph” website which permits anyone to make bar, pie, line, area, and x-y graphs using a web browser. Graphs can be printed, saved, or emailed to an address you specify.

Today I tweeted a request for links to additional graphing websites and programs, besides the NCES site, and received a variety of excellent suggestions.

Texas educator Lesley Denny tweeted me a link to Fusioncharts Google Gadgets.

FusionCharts Google Gadgets are widgets that help you create animated flash charts & graphs for your web pages, blogs & Google Pages. Be it your sales chart, inventory chart or your personal weight chart, FusionCharts can render an exciting face to all your boring data tables – for FREE.

Steve Grimm (location classified) recommended Jacob Gube’s April 2009 post “10 Useful Flash Components for Graphing Data,” which includes links to Open Flash Chart, XML/SWF Charts, zxChart, amCharts, Fly Charts, AmiChart, Black Box Chart, flashCharts, and Origramy. There are enough online charting options here to fill a 15 week graduate course!

Colorado educator and researcher Howard Pitler recommended the e-Tutor Graphing Calculator as well as online graphing tools provided by The University of Vienna.

Minnesota educator Belinda Hartzler suggested ChartTool and ChartGizmo.

Virginia educator Becky Fisher recommended Track-n-Graph as well as Mr. Nussbaum.com’s BarGraphGenerator.

New Jersey educator Samantha Morra suggested the NCTM Illuminations Bar Grapher.

Oklahoma teacher Susan Hurst recommended two different graphing tools: iCharts and Chartle. This is an example of a dynamic iChart using data for United States GDP. Wouldn’t we all like to know when those lines are going to turn up again?!

Chartle is a web application in “early beta.” In addition to charts it permits users to create Venn Diagrams and interactive maps online.

Several educators also recommended software-based graphing tools.

Minnesota educator Chris White suggested Pacific University’s free graphing calculator for both Windows and Macintosh computers.

New York educator Karen Vitek suggested Ivan Johansen’s open source, Windows-based program Graph.

New Zealand educator Lenva Shearing suggested a collection of twelve different online graphic tools on the Cool Tools for Schools wiki.

What a plethora of digital graphing options! Many thanks to everyone who contributed to these suggestions! Are there any you use which did not make this list? Which graphing tools are you finding to be the most functional to use with students on an interactive whiteboard?

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