Education Technology


Middle Grades Math: Exploring Bivariate Data

by Texas Instruments

Objectives

  • Students will construct and interpret scatter plots for bivariate measurement data to investigate patterns of association between two quantities.
  • Students will informally explore the role of influential points in determining the patterns of association between two quantities.

Vocabulary

  • bivariate data
  • scatter plot
  • clusters
  • influential points
  • outliers
  • linear/non-linear association
  • positive/negative association
  • out-of-pattern outliers

About the Lesson

This lesson involves investigating patterns of association in various sets of bivariate data.
As a result, students will:

  • Construct the scatter plot for the data.
  • Informally analyze any relationship between the two quantities, including analysis of clustering, influential points, and possible out-of-pattern outliers.
  • Work with data demonstrating a positive linear association, a negative association, no association, a non-linear negative association, and a non-causal association.