What's going on in this graph? - Ages of First Time Mothers

By Mariana Garcia-Serrato
Last updated almost 5 years ago
2 Questions
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These graphs came from the New York Times article “The Age That Women Have Babies: How a Gap Divides America.” They are based on an analysis by Caitlin Myers, an economist at Middlebury College, who used data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

What could account for the change in distribution of first time mothers between those two years? Can you think of an explanation as to why, in the 2016 graph, there seems to be two subgroups of mothers based on age of their first born?

After looking closely at the graphs, think about these three questions:
What do you notice? Why do you think this is?

What do you wonder? What are you curious about that comes from what you notice in the graph?

What might be going on in this graph? What is the graph showing?
1.

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

Start with “I notice,” then “I wonder,” and end with “The story this graph is telling is ….”

An example of the expectation for a completely different graph:
"I noticed that many of the immigrants have moved to the southern and western states such as, California and Texas. These people should be given a chance and not rejected right away. The chart also shows how many of these immigrants have jobs and are working people. I wonder why these people came to those exact states. I also wonder why they moved up north, why would they go so far up north. The story these graphs are showing is where the immigrants went and how many of them people working in that state."


2.

Create a meme that captures the main idea presented in the graphs AND is supported by the information shown. You may use any meme creator or simply use Google Draw.

Upload your Meme as your response
For examples for a completely different set of images click here.

If you'd like to have your classmates look at your meme, you may publish it in this padlet - https://padlet.com/mgarcia31/z5qp2tnczxtk. When you publish it, make sure you reference the name of the formative AND include a link to the original graph - https://nyti.ms/2Hh6wPW . Your classmates will have the opportunity of voting on it and perhaps it will be published as an exemplar. However, remember that your meme must be supported by the graph. Random memes will be deleted AND will make you lose points for the assignment.