Virginia SOL 8.PS.3.c
The Standard
Organize and represent numeric bivariate data using scatterplots with and without the use of technology.
Virginia Standards of Learning for Mathematics · The student will apply the data cycle (formulate questions; collect or acquire data; organize and represent data; and analyze data and communicate results) with a focus on scatterplots.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students organize paired numerical data in a table and decide which variable belongs on each axis. They choose suitable scales, label both axes, and plot every ordered pair by hand or with graphing software.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given paired numerical data, a student creates an accurate scatterplot with a title, axis labels, units, and equal scale intervals. The student keeps each data pair together and plots every point correctly by hand and with technology.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may sort the two columns separately and break the original pairs. They may reverse the axes, use uneven intervals, omit units, or connect the points like a line graph.
How to Assess It
- Give students the pairs (1, 58), (2, 64), (3, 70), (4, 75), and (5, 83). Ask them to make a labeled scatterplot by hand, then recreate it in a spreadsheet.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Make tape axes on the floor, then have students stand at coordinates from paired data cards to create a human scatterplot.
Show two scatterplots of the same data with different scales and ask, "Which display is clearer, and what makes it clearer?"
Run a scatterplot relay where teams draw axes, choose scales, label units, and plot one data pair at a time.
Measure classmates' heights and arm spans, then create the same scatterplot on graph paper and in a spreadsheet.
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Printable 8.PS.3.c Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 4.PS.1.c
Organize and represent a data set using line graphs with a title and labeled axes with whole number increments, with and without the use of technology tools.
- 8.PS.3.e
Analyze and justify the relationship of the quantitative bivariate data represented in scatterplots.
- 8.PS.2.d
Organize and represent a numeric data set of no more than 20 items, using boxplots, with and without the use of technology.
- 7.PS.2.d
Organize and represent numerical data using histograms with and without the use of technology
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