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Creating a Pie Chart

This support material is incorporated into critical challenges at grades 9 and 12, however, it can be adapted for use at all grade levels.

Creating a Pie Chart
A pie chart can be used to represent a degree of responsibility or culpability; i.e., to what degree should person or group X be held accountable or be given credit for a particular action. Students can visually represent the degree of responsibility or accountability by dividing the pie chart into representative pieces.

Within or beside each piece students should list, in point form, the most compelling evidence that explains why the level of responsibility was assigned. Rationale for each section should include reasons why less responsibility was not apportioned as well as why more responsibility was not assigned.

Using the pie chart helps students to see that:

• events often have multiple causes and agents
• there are both direct and indirect causes to events such that someone may be assigned a portion of responsibility despite playing only a peripheral role in the event.

Sample Pie Chart:

Credits

Adapted from Critical Challenges Across the Curriculum series.  Permission granted by The Critical Thinking Consortium for use by Alberta teachers.