In this lesson, students are given data from 2 variables in a table and asked to consider ways to organize it to look for any patterns. They are shown that one way to organize the data is to visualize it graphically using scatter plots. Students must reason abstractly and quantitatively (MP2) to match data to given scatter plots and use the structure of the scatter plot (MP7) to label the axes.

Since the term "function" has not yet been introduced to students in this course, skip the last bulleted question in the Lesson Synthesis.

To help students transition from working with linear equations to focusing on data, explain that most situations are not as precise as the points and lines they have been working with. For example, measurement errors or slight irregularities may mean that even when variables should be in a proportional relationship, the points may not fall perfectly in a line. Students will examine ways to recognize when it still makes sense to find a linear model that will approximate the actual data and how to use that model to get additional information about the situations.