Summary
Students will learn to generate and analyze graphs given a table of data.
Essential Question(s)
How do we use graphical data to analyze, draw conclusions, and make decisions?
Snapshot
Engage
Show and discuss tuition costs for both state resident and nonresident students at the University of Oklahoma.
Explore
As a class, generate a table and draw a graph given the data on tuition costs.
Explain
In small groups, students analyze the graph, interpret findings, and discuss other contributing factors to college expenses.
Extend
Students find data on the number of STEM and other OU graduates. They will need to generate a table, draw a graph, and analyze/interpret.
Evaluate
Each group transcribes their table, graph, and findings on a blank white paper to present to the class via a document camera.
Materials
Blank white paper
Pencil
Calculator
Document camera or some other way to display information
Chalkboard/whiteboard with corresponding writing apparatus
OU tuition costs sheet (See attachment)
Student devices with internet access
Engage
Show how much tuition for both state resident and nonresident students was in the 2013-2014 academic year at the University of Oklahoma. Compare it to the current year's tuition. Find this information on OU’s Fact Books page.
Explore
Post the following questions for the students to think about and answer using the data using the How I Know strategy:
How much has tuition changed from 2012 to the current year? Possible reasons?
How much is the difference between state resident and nonresident students?
What do you think about the difference?
What does it mean to be a resident of Oklahoma?
Is the tuition changing throughout the year or only once per academic year?
If we graphed this data, would the graph be a function? Continuous?
That is, have students write out their answers to each question and also write how they know the answer is correct in terms of context (like Ms. So-and-So taught me that) or content justification (such as using the definition of a function).
Explain
Display the data from the 2016 Fact Book on a document camera or on an interactive whiteboard. Tell the students to use the data to write a table and generate two graphs (one for resident and the other for nonresident). Make sure the students think about what to label the axis, what type of value is the input (independent)/output (dependent), and how the data points should be labeled (3,000 or 3 thousand).
Ask the following questions about the graphs:
Are these graphs functions?
Are they continuous?
How is this data different or similar to the previous data?
Next, have students look at the slope (the rate of change) between two various points on the graph.
Have small groups discuss the graph and findings. Between what consecutive years is the slope of the secant line (i.e., the average rate of change) the steepest? During what years does the graph increase and decrease? What other costs might you consider when attending a university?
Extend
Assign small groups different majors. The University of Oklahoma lists majors from architecture to world cultural studies.
In their small groups, have the students look up data on the University of Oklahoma (OU) graduates based on the assigned major from their Fact Book. The number of graduates per major is listed under Part I: Academic, Degrees Conferred by Major in section, 2 page 6. Have the students generate a graph from the data and interpret their findings. To gather the data to generate the graph, students will have to look at the OU Fact Books from previous years. OU includes previous 11 years of Fact Books at the bottom of the site given, and each one has this section (Part I: Academic) where students will find the information they need.
Evaluate
Each group will construct their graph with their findings on a blank white paper and present it to the class.
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). How I Know It. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/d9908066f654727934df7bf4f5067d68
University of Oklahoma. (n.d.). Fact books (Web page). Institutional Research and Reporting. http://www.ou.edu/content/irr/fact-books.html#pre