Creating Bar Graph Items

Bar Graph items require students to click regions on a grid in order to set the heights of one or more bars in a bar graph.

To create a Bar Graph item from the template:

1.In the Compose Item Prompt section, replace the sample text with the content for the item’s question or directions. You can use the toolbar to format text and insert media. For more information, see Appendix D.

2.In the Define Bars and Values section, set the height of the available bars by clicking the appropriate value region for each bar.

• To set a bar’s height to zero, mark the checkbox under that bar and click Set Value to 0.

3.Optional: To lock a bar’s height in place so the student cannot change the height, mark the checkbox under that bar and click Lock.

a.To unlock a locked bar, mark the checkbox under that bar and click Unlock. Students can only adjust the height of bars that are not locked.

4.Optional: To add more bars to the graph, click + in the graph.

a.To remove a bar, mark the checkbox under that bar and click Delete.

5.To edit the label for a bar, click the label for that bar and enter a new one.

6.To enter a title for the graph, click the sample text above the graph and replace it with the desired title.

7.To edit the labels for the value axes, do one of the following in the Values section of the settings panel on the right side of the template:

• To use custom values, mark the Custom radio button. Additional fields appear.
  • Enter the label for each value in the available fields.
  • To add more values, click Add Value.
  • To remove a value, click beside that value.
• To use numeric values, mark the Numeric radio button. Additional fields appear.
  • In the From field, enter the lowest numeric value for the graph.
  • In the To field, enter the highest numeric value for the graph.
  • In the By field, enter the increment by which each value axis should increase.

The graph updates to display the required values.

8.Optional: In the Bar Direction section, set the orientation of the bars:

• To set the bars to display horizontally, click .
• To set the bars to display vertically, click .

9.Optional: To set the graph to display the grid lines for values, mark the Show Reference Lines checkbox.

10.Optional: To include an image of a data table for the graph, mark the Include Data Table Image checkbox.

a.In the Image Properties window, click Browse Server and do the following:

i.In the File Manager window, click Upload Image.

ii.Select the required data table image from your computer.

iii.In the File Manager window, double-click the image you just added.

iv.In the Image Properties window, click OK.

11.Optional: To use a custom design for the bars of the graph, mark the Include Bar Image checkbox and repeat steps 10.a–iv. For example, if the graph is illustrating population data, you could use a symbol of a person for each segment of the bar.

12.In the Construct Answer Keys section, enter a value in the Maximum Score field to specify the maximum score for the item.

13.To create the answer key for the item, do the following:

a.In the Point field, enter the score for a correct (or partially correct) response.

b.In the provided response area, click the regions on the grid to create a graph that would earn the score entered in the Point field.

c.Optional: In the Explanation field, explain why the entered response is worth the score you specified.

14.Optional: If the item has more than one valid answer, create additional answer keys:

a.Click beside the Point field. A new response area tab appears.

b.Repeat step 13.

c.Optional: To remove an answer key, click in the tab for that answer key.

15.Optional: If you want to provide a description of the scoring criteria to view in reports, mark the Include Scoring Description checkbox. Then fill out the Description and Exemplar fields that appear.

16.To save the item, click Save above the template.