In this lesson, students use the skills they've been developing to interpret or create graphs of functions that are less well defined and that model real-life situations that are more complex. The lesson includes two main activities about flag raising and two optional activities that use other contexts for additional practice drawing graphs from descriptions or a video.

Information about the functions is presented in the form of verbal descriptions, video clips, and images. More ambiguity is involved here than in cases students have previously encountered, so they will need to persevere in sense making and problem solving (MP1). At times, the information given may be inadequate, so students will need to make assumptions and decisions in order to produce graphs that show the desired behaviors or meet certain requirements. Along the way, students engage in important aspects of mathematical modeling (MP4).