New Animals

1 The table below has some new animals!

  • Choose an animal and plot a dot for it on the scatter plot on the right
    using its age and weeks values. (Pay careful attention to how the axes are labelled.)

  • Then write the animal’s name next to the dot you made.

name species age weeks

"Alice"

"cat"

1

2

"Bob"

"dog"

17

2

"Callie"

"cat"

14

16

"Diver"

"lizard"

1

20

"Eddie"

"dog"

6

9

"Fuzzy"

"cat"

8

5

"Gary"

"rabbit"

4

2

"Hazel"

"dog"

3

3

"Chelsea"

"cat"

12

14

"Josie"

"dog"

9

12

"Cheetah"

"dog"

10

8

An empty scatter plot, waiting for random data to be filled in

2 Plot the rest of the animals - one at a time - labeling each point as you go. After each animal, ask yourself whether or not you see a pattern in the data.

3 After how many animals did you begin to see a pattern?

Generalizing the pattern

4 Use a straight edge to draw a line on the graph that best represents the pattern you see, then circle the cloud of points around that line.

5 Are the points tightly clustered around the line or loosely scattered?

6 Does this display support the claim that younger animals get adopted faster? Why or why not?

7 Now place 10 points on the graph to make a scatter plot
that appears to have NO relationship.

Students will add points of their choosing
to the scatter plot, in no particular pattern.

An empty scatter plot, waiting for random data to be filled in

These materials were developed partly through support of the National Science Foundation, (awards 1042210, 1535276, 1648684, 1738598, 2031479, and 1501927). CCbadge Bootstrap by the Bootstrap Community is licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 Unported License. This license does not grant permission to run training or professional development. Offering training or professional development with materials substantially derived from Bootstrap must be approved in writing by a Bootstrap Director. Permissions beyond the scope of this license, such as to run training, may be available by contacting contact@BootstrapWorld.org.