Lesson 12

Constructing the Coordinate Plane

In this lesson, students explore the idea of scaling axes appropriately to accommodate data where coordinates are rational numbers. Students attend to precision as they plan where to place axes on a grid and how to scale them to represent data clearly (MP6). In an optional activity, students practice working with coordinates in all 4 quadrants as they navigate a maze on a coordinate grid. This lesson gives students the opportunity to develop fluency with plotting coordinates in all 4 quadrants and scaling axes to fit data that is essential for the context-driven work over the next few lessons.

Choose and label appropriate scales for the axes of the coordinate plane, based on the coordinates to be plotted, and explain (orally and in writing) the choice.
Compare and contrast different scales for the axes of the coordinate plane.

Let’s investigate different ways of creating a coordinate plane.