Using General‐Case Procedures to Teach Graphing Skills to Undergraduate Students

Vecchia and team taught Excel graphing to college students. They used a general-case computer program. The program showed many types of graphs and data sets.

Four students got the training in a multiple-baseline design. Each learned to make line and bar graphs. They practiced with new data they had never seen before.

After only a few hours, most students could graph new data correctly. They made line graphs and bar graphs without help. Skills stayed strong when tested later.

One student needed a quick booster. Then she also graphed new data perfectly. The computer method worked for all four.

O'Grady et al. (2021) also used computer lessons with undergraduates. They taught students to read AB graphs, not make them. Both studies show computers teach graph skills fast.

Higbee et al. (2016) used the same design and ICT method. They taught teachers to run discrete trials. Both papers prove ICT works for different skills and groups.

Blair et al. (2020) give a free tutorial for building these lessons. You can copy their steps to make your own Excel graphing module.

You can flip graph training to a computer. Students learn faster than with live lecture. They still graph new data weeks later. Use the Blair tutorial to build a short module. Assign it before lab sessions. You save class time for higher-level work like interpreting graphs instead of clicking buttons.