The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to one of the big ideas of the unit: We can transform functions to model sets of data. The main focus of this lesson is to elicit ideas and language that will be refined throughout the unit around transforming graphs.

Students encounter functions that are both good fits for a particular data set, providing students with the opportunity to make an argument about why a particular function is a better fit (MP3). Students continue to critique each other's arguments as they make adjustments to the functions to get a better fit. Then, students take turns describing transformations between pairs of graphs, giving an opportunity for students to refine their language and connect back to transformation vocabulary from previous courses (MP6).

One of the activities in this lesson works best when each student has access to devices that can run the digital applet because students will benefit from seeing the graph in a dynamic way.