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What’s Going On in This Graph? | Sept. 15, 2021

How did the pandemic change how we spend our free time?

Source: U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, American Time Survey

These graphs show the average time not in school or work spent per day (in minutes), by age, for May through December 2019 versus the same period in 2020.

On Wednesday, Sept. 15, we will moderate your responses live online. By Friday morning, Sept. 17, we will provide the “Reveal” — the graphs’ free online link, additional background and questions, shout outs for student headlines and Stat Nuggets.

After looking closely at the graphs above (or at this full-size image), answer these four questions:

  • What do you notice?

  • What do you wonder?

  • How does this relate to you and your community?

  • What’s going on in this graph? Create a catchy headline that captures the graphs’ main idea.

The questions are intended to build on one another, so try to answer them in order.

2. Next, join the conversation online by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box. (Teachers of students younger than 13 are welcome to post their students’ responses.)

3. Below the response box, there is an option to click on “Email me when my comment is published.” This sends the link to your response which you can share with your teacher.

4. After you have posted, read what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting a comment. Use the “Reply” button to address that student directly.

On Wednesday, Sept. 15, teachers from our collaborator, the American Statistical Association, will facilitate this discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time.

5. By Friday morning, Sept. 17, we will reveal more information about the graphs, including a free link to the article that includes these graphs, at the bottom of this post. We encourage you to post additional comments based on the article, possibly using statistical terms defined in the Stat Nuggets.

UPDATED: Sept. 16, 2021

How did the way you spent your time change during the pandemic? Were you spending more or less time “doing school,” eating, sleeping, exercising, on the computer or phone? How was it different for your parents and other adults in your life? Did you see them more or less? Did they work from home or “do school” with you?

These slope charts (see below Stat Nugget) are for three of the nine activities displayed in the July 27, 2021 New York Times article “The Pandemic Changed How We Spent Our Time.” The others are for sleeping, watching entertainment, playing games, cooking and doing housework. The data are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) American Time Use Surveys. Most years, the survey reflects how the changes in technology, society and the economy cause small changes in how we spend our time. Here, we see how the pandemic changed the time spent by activity and by age group for May through December 2019, the beginning of the pandemic, and for the same months in 2020. (The data are for partial years because the BLS paused data collection from mid-March through mid-May of 2020 because of the coronavirus outbreak.)

The pandemic changed how we spent our time, but in different ways. How will these changes affect what we do when we get back to “normal?"

Here are some of the student headlines that capture the stories of these charts: “Our Phones vs. Ourselves During the Pandemic” by Mariana of Jalisco, Mexico, “Covid Effects on Everyday Habits” by Ella of Grand Island, New York, “Look Where Your Time Is Going During COVID” by Adan, “Habits at Home: How Different Age Groups Changed Their Routines During the Pandemic” by Nate of Hunter College High School in New York City, and “Pandemic Time: How We Spend It and How We Waste It” from Daniel in Andover, MA.

You may want to think about these additional questions:

  • The article included graphs for nine activities. View these nine graphs online.

  • Which activities had the greatest change for all of the age groups? Which activities had the greatest change for 15 to 24-year olds?

  • Which age group had the greatest change in how they spent their time?

  • What surprises you about how we spent our time?

  • The y-axes of the three graphs are not the same. Why do you think the graphic designer did not make them the same? What is misleading because the axes are different? What could you easily see about the change in time spent on activities if the y-axes were the same?

  • The data from these slope graphs can also be shown on grouped bar charts, also called comparative or paired bar charts. (See below Stat Nuggets.) The grouped bar charts would have two bars for each of the age groups, one bar each for 2019 and 2020.

Make a grouped bar chart for one of the article’s activities. The subcategories are the age groups. Each has two bars — the activity’s time for 2019 and for 2020. Which graph—the slope chart or the grouped bar chart—best shows how the time spent on the activity has changed over the pandemic? Explain your preference.

  • The article also a slope chart on the change in who people spent their time with (by people in or outside their household or alone), change in time spent caring for children (by gender, marital status, and multitasking), and change in time spent working (by location, race and ethnicity, and education level). Study these graphs. What surprises do you see? How do you explain these changes?

  • The data in these slope charts were collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for their annual American Time Use Survey. Learn online about this survey.

Keep noticing and wondering. We continue to welcome your online responses.

Next week’s graph on changes in the amount of U.S. precipitation will be released by Friday, Sept. 17 with live-moderation on Wednesday, Sept. 22. You can receive the 2021-2022 “What’s Going On In This Graph?” schedule by subscribing here to the Learning Network Friday newsletter. In the meantime, keep noticing and wondering.

________

Below, we define mathematical and statistical terms and how they relate to this graph. To see the archives of all Stat Nuggets with links to their graphs, go to this index.

SLOPE CHART

A slope chart (also called interaction plots) is a line graph for several groups with only two data points for each group. It shows data for the initial point and a later point in time, joined by a line. The change may be considered a before-and-after comparison. Comparisons can be made both between and across groups. Comparing the slope of the lines reveals which groups have increased or decreased the most.

The Pandemic Time Spent graphs show, for five age groups, the average amount of time spent on various activities at the beginning of the pandemic (May to December 2019) and a year later in 2020. The initial data from 2019 are on the left vertical axis and the later data from 2020 are on the right vertical axis. Lines connect the two data points for each age group. Upward sloping lines indicate an increase in average time spent, while downward sloping lines indicate a decrease in average time spent. The steeper the slope, the greater the change in how much time was spent on the activity. For example, for texting, phone calls and video chats, the line for 15 - 24 year olds is steepest, signifying the greatest increase in time spent relative to the other three age groups.

GROUPED BAR CHART

A grouped bar chart (also called a comparative or paired bar chart) displays the frequency or value of a categorical variable. The values are represented by bars and are displayed in the same order for each category, usually with different colors or patterns. The values of the subcategories can easily be compared within a category and, because of the colors, between categories.

Using the data from the Pandemic Time Spent graphs, a grouped bar chart could be made for each of the activities. The categories would be the four age groups, the subcategories would be the year (2019 and 2020) and the value represented by the bars would be average time spent. The categories should be displayed from youngest to oldest. The bars should be displayed chronologically with 2019 bars in one color and 2020 bars in a different color.

________

The graphs for “What’s Going On in This Graph?” are selected in partnership with Sharon Hessney. Ms. Hessney wrote the “reveal” and Stat Nuggets with Roxy Peck, professor emerita, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, and moderates online with Corey Andreasen, math teacher at the American School of the Hague.


More?

See all graphs in this series or collections of 60 of our favorite graphs, 28 graphs that teach about inequality and 24 graphs about climate change.

View our archives that link to all past releases, organized by topic, graph type and Stat Nugget.

Learn more about the notice and wonder teaching strategy from this 5-minute video and how and why other teachers are using this strategy from our on-demand webinar.

Sign up for our free weekly Learning Network newsletter so you never miss a graph. Graphs are always released by the Friday before the Wednesday live-moderation to give teachers time to plan ahead.

Go to the American Statistical Association K-12 website, which includes teacher statistics resources, Census in the Schools student-generated data, professional development opportunities, and more.

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

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