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Lesson Plan
Title:
Scatter Plots & Correlation
Discipline
and Topic: Mathematics-Scatter Plots and Correlation
Target Population:
Grade Level: High School
(9-12)
Population Characteristics: This
lesson will be implemented in a ninth grade Integrated Algebra
class. There are 20 students in the class, three of whom receive
special education services. There is a consultant teacher who
pushes into the math class and provides support for the students during
class time. In general, the students enjoy and are motivated by
using technology, and have become more proficient in doing so.
Lesson Groupings:
Students will be working independently in this lesson.
Curriculum Links:
The Integrated Algebra performance indicator A.S.7 states that students
will be able to, "Create a scatter plot of bivariate data." This
is the focus of this lesson. As part of constructing a scatter
plot, students must also, "Construct manually a line of best fit for a
scatter plot and determine the equation of that line" (A.S.8). In
addition, students will be able to, "Identify the relationship between
the independent and dependent variables from a scatter plot (positive,
negative, or none)" (A.S.12), which is what they will learn from the
digital story.
This lesson will take place in a statistics unit. Prior to this
lesson, students have worked with data sets to find measures of central
tendency and create histograms, stem and leaf plots, and box and
whisker plots. Thus, they are familiar with setting up the axes
and labels for a graph. In addition, they have had experience
working with the equations of lines from a previous unit and should be
comfortable with finding the equation of the trend line from the
graph.
Objectives:
Students will be able to:
- Create a scatter plot of bivariate data. (A.S.7)
- Draw a line of best fit for a scatter plot. (A.S.8)
- Find the equation for a line of best fit. (A.S.8)
- Identify the relationship between two variables as
positive, negative, no correlation (A.S.8).
Media Literacy Objectives:
Students will be able to:
- Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products,
and processes.
Materials and Timing:
Materials: Computers
with Internet access. There should be a computer with a projector
for teacher use as well.
Timing: This lesson
will take one 45-minute class period.
Scope and Sequence:
- The teacher will begin class by telling students that today
we will be learning about the final type of graph in our statistics
unit: scatter plots. The teacher will ask students what they know
(if anything) about scatter plots. If students are struggling to
answer this, the teacher may ask students what they think a scatter
plot is by looking at the name, or perhaps what they have learned in
other classes (science?). This brief discussion should last no
more than five minutes and is meant to serve as a diagnostic assessment
to see what prior knowledge students have of scatter plots.
- The teacher will then instruct students to log on to the Statistics tutorial page and go
to the Scatter
Plots & Correlation page. The teacher will give
students a brief overview of the lesson. They will follow along
with a lecture that explains how to draw a scatter plot. They
will then view a digital story explaining the different types of
correlation. After completing both of these activities students
will then complete their own scatter plot to hand in. (~5 minutes).
- Students will first work through the mini-lecture showing
how to make a scatter plot. They have a choice of listening to
the lecture, or using the text provided. As students complete
this lecture they will be creating the scatter plot shown in the
example as practice. Students must have their practice scatter plot
checked before moving on. This is to ensure that students are
actively participating in the lecture. As students work, the
teacher will circulate the lab, making sure students are on task and
answering questions as needed. (~15 minutes)
- After completing the scatter plot lecture and practice
scatter plot, students will then view the correlation digital
story. This digital story explains the different types of
correlation and how to identify them. (~5 minutes)
- Once students have viewed the digital story they will then
create a scatter plot for the following data:
Calories and
Fat in Some Common Foods
|
Food
|
Fat
(g)
|
Number
of
Calories
|
Milk
|
8
|
150
|
Eggs
|
6
|
80
|
Chicken
|
4
|
90
|
Ham
|
19
|
245
|
Ice
Cream
|
14
|
270
|
Corn
|
1
|
70
|
Ground
Beef
|
10
|
185
|
Broccoli
|
1
|
45
|
Cheese
|
9
|
115
|
Students will draw the scatter plot on a sheet of graph paper using a
ruler. They must use an appropriate scale and labels, and plot
points correctly. They must also draw a reasonable line of best
fit and give the equation for the line. Finally, they will state
what type of correlation (if any) their scatter plot shows, and explain
why.
(These directions are also listed under the "Practice" section of the Scatter
Plots & Correlation page.)
- The teacher will collect the scatter plots and students
responses to evaluate students learning. Students who did not
finish the scatter plot may do so for homework and turn it in at the
start of the next day's class.
Supplemental Materials:
- Graph paper
- Rulers
- Pencils
Evaluation of Students:
The teacher will evaluate the students using the scatter plot created
at the conclusion of this lesson, as well as observation. The
teacher will use the rubric below:
Objective
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1
Point
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2
Points
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3
points
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Create a scatter plot of bivariate data.
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3 or more points are
plotted incorrectly or are missing. Scale is inappropriate.
More than two labels are missing.
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1 or 2 points are plotted
incorrectly or are missing. An appropriate scale is used. 1 or 2
labels are missing.
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Points are plotted
correctly. An appropriate scale is used. All axes are
labeled and the graph has a title.
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Draw a line of best fit for a scatter plot.
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Line of best fit is not
reasonable. The line does not touch the y-axis and was not drawn with a
ruler.
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Line of best fit is
reasonable, but could be more accurate. The line is drawn with
the ruler and touches the y-axis.
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A reasonable line of best
fit is drawn, passing through as many points as possible. The
line touches the y-axis and
is drawn with a ruler.
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Find the equation for a line of best fit.
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An incorrect and
unreasonable equation equation is given.
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Equation for the best fit
line is given in slope-intercept form. Equation has minor errors
due to rounding or scale, but is reasonable for the line drawn.
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A correct equation for the
line of best fit is given in slope-intercept form.
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| Identify
the relationship between two variables as positive, negative, no
correlation |
Does not identify
correlation as positive. No explanation is given, or explanation
is incorrect or incoherent.
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Correctly identified the
correlation as positive. Explanation is somewhat unclear or
incomplete, but is generally correct.
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Correctly identified the
correlation as positive. Explanation clearly mentions the slope
of the best fit line or that both variables are increasing.
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| Apply
existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, and processes. |
Graph and responses shows a
lack of understanding of scatter plots and correlation.
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Graph and responses show a
general understanding of scatter plots and correlation, with some minor
misconceptions.
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Graph and responses show a
clear understanding of scatter plots and correlation.
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Additional
Comments:
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11- 15 points:
Excellent
6 - 10 points:
Good
0-5 points: Needs improvement
Evaluation of the Lesson:
The short discussion at the beginning of the lesson is meant to serve
as a diagnostic assessment to determine what students already know
about scatter plots an correlation. It is expected that students
are somewhat familiar with scatter plots from science. The
results of the diagnostic assessment will be compared to the scatter
plots and responses students complete at the end of the lesson to
determine if learning occurred.
Since the students are working independently and attempting to learn
from text and audio, the teacher should pay attention to see how well
students work in this setting. If there appears to be major
confusion or need for clarification the teacher may choose to intervene
to fix any problems, or make adjustments for future
implementation.
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