Lesson 18

What a Point in a Scatter Plot Means

Lesson Narrative

In this lesson, students continue their investigation of scatter plots. They interpret points in a scatter plot in terms of a context, and add points to a scatter plot given information about an individual in the population. They compare individuals represented by different points and informally discuss trends in the data.

There are two levels of analysis needed to successfully make sense of scatter plots: what is happening for a particular individual, and what is happening at a global level for the entire population. The ability to move between these two zoom levels develops over time. In this lesson, students spend a lot of time looking at the details of a scatter plot, naming the quantities represented in a scatter plot, and focusing on the meaning of individual points (MP6).


Learning Goals

Teacher Facing

  • Coordinate (orally and in writing) data in a table and points on a scatter plot.
  • Describe (orally) the trend of the data, and use the trend to predict unknown values.
  • Interpret (orally and in writing) a point on a scatter plot in context.

Student Facing

Let’s investigate points in scatter plots.

Learning Targets

Student Facing

  • I can describe the meaning of a point in a scatter plot in context.

CCSS Standards

Building On

Addressing

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