What Comes Next?: Modeling and Predicting
In order to explore change over time, students use world population data
to learn about linear and exponential models. They first compare the differences
in growth sequences based on addition and multiplication. After using guess-and-check
strategies, students develop equations to calculate different kinds of growth.
A culminating report on the predicted population growth of a country of their
choice gives students the opportunity to apply the models to real-world data
and investigate the goodness-of-fit of a model.
NCTM standard: Algebra
- Understand patterns, relations, and functions
- Represent and analyze mathematical situations and structures using algebraic
symbols
- Use mathematical models to represent and understand quantitative relationships
- Analyze change in various contexts
NCTM standard: Data Analysis and Probability
- Develop and evaluate inferences and predictions that are based on data
Primary Mathematical Goals
- Use tables to compare and analyze linear and exponential growth
- Use graphs to compare and analyze linear and exponential growth
- Interpolate and extrapolate data values using various methods
- Analyze real-world data to make predictions
- Identify growth patterns in number sequences
