Chart assignment

Charts to read and discuss

Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.

  1. How many people visit America's national parks each year?
  2. Where does US electricity come from?

Chart 1 of 2 · National parks

How many people visit America's national parks each year?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

Today's 63 national parks had 93.9 million recreation visits in 2025, against the record 94.3 million of 2024 and 52.6 million in 1979, when monthly counts begin. Visits fell to 67.9 million in 2020, when many parks closed for part of the pandemic. Every year counts the same 63 parks, including a few made national parks only recently, such as Indiana Dunes and New River Gorge.

Questions to discuss

  1. In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
  2. Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
  3. Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?

Source: National Park Service, Visitor Use Statistics (Public domain (U.S. government work); source National Park Service) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025

Open the chart and its numbers

Chart 2 of 2 · Energy

Where does US electricity come from?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

In 2025 natural gas made 40.8% of US electricity, followed by nuclear (17.7%) and coal (16.6%). Wind made 10.5% and solar 6.7%. Solar counts only utility-scale plants, not rooftop panels, and the 2025 figures are preliminary.

How to read this chart

Each bar is one energy source's share of all the electricity made in the U.S. in a year, so the bars add up to about 100%. The bars start at zero, so a bar twice as long means twice the share. Solar counts only large power plants, not panels on rooftops.

Questions to discuss

  1. Which source makes the most electricity? About how many times more than the smallest bar?
  2. Which of these sources burn fuel and which don't? What share of electricity comes from each group?
  3. Why might a chart of this kind look different in your state than for the whole country?

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review (Table 7.2a) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025

Open the chart and its numbers

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