Research shows that students get more out of seeing a graph almost immediately and the guide is based on that idea. Also the intent is for students to learn to use the tools to answer any Big Question the teacher may pose. Hopefully this will encourage inquiry learning. As Dr. Park said in an earlier class, most students can understand the basic principle in a line graph. In Oh Deer the graph we plotted after the excercise made the activity main focus clear.
All ages benefit when they can see the ideas and data.
Yes, graphs are a great way to understand the data more easily than just looking a handful of numbers that seem to make no sense. My suggestion is that before introducing the software to spend some time with the students in understanding the main ideas in graph making, especially the consept of independent versus dependent variable which is central to understanding the cause and effect relationships. One of the items that we have found teachers love to use in demonstrating graphing is a roll of graph paper. It can be used not only for simple bar graphs, but complex 3D graphs as well. It's a big hit.