Members of a given group receive a common assessment of their efforts in this activity stage. In the second activity stage, the class receives complete graphics without any accompanying text. At this stage, instructor assessment shifts somewhat to the individual student. However, pupils retain the benefit of a group session to help refine their singular compositions, which include writing a textual introduction and lead-in for the graphic, plus further explanation and interpretation of the graphic subsequent to its placement. Students in small groups then collaboratively form the textual accompaniment for the graphic, using the submissions of individual authors for selection and refinement.
Students gain confidence from peer consensus in developing the skill.
They learn from others while maintaining personal responsibility for development of the task. At this juncture, student input diversifies. In addition to composing all accompanying text to introduce, explain, and interpret a graphic, students now customize the core graphic itself. Because the drill involves fictitious representations of data, it is a good time to reiterate the need for accuracy in representing actual information. Students should be aware of the misperceptions that can occur when graphic scales are skewed, truncated, or otherwise distorted.