Middle Grades Math: Exploring Bivariate Data

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.