Teaching plots with Gapminder data

Published by Software Carpentry / The Carpentries

This credits the original publisher. Better Loop membership or a shared assessment is not implied.

The public work

Software Carpentry’s lesson reads Gapminder country data and displays labeled GDP time-series and scatter plots. It shows table transposition, legends and file export, alongside learner exercises and accessibility guidance.

What to notice

Teach the connection between table orientation and plot axes, and provide labels and accessible distinctions that survive beyond the live notebook.

Keep the context

A published teaching demonstration, not measured learning gains. Historical country aggregates and correlations do not establish individual outcomes or causal relationships.

AI use: Not reported in the source.

The inspected source does not report AI-assistant use by its authors.

A useful public example is not an assessment of a reader, a publisher or a Better Loop member.

Authored practice suggestion

Try the idea.
Check your own work.

Use material you are allowed to work with. This suggestion is preparation; it does not record a completed task or an improvement.

A prompt to adapt privately

Using the lesson’s local Gapminder snapshot, create a short teaching exercise connecting table orientation to plot axes. Include an unlabeled practice plot, a corrected version, an answer key and an exported figure with readable labels and distinctions beyond color alone.

A check to adapt

The answer key identifies axes, units, years and source; plotted values trace to the table; exported labels and series distinctions remain readable.

Open a related practice brief

Private practice needs no account. Your configured model provider may process the evidence you select.

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