Activity A: Drawing lines on graphs

For general information about the activities, and an overview of those currently available, see the Teacher discussion activities page.

The activity

When should the data points on a graph be joined ‘dot-to-dot’ and when is it better to draw a line of best fit? How are such choices affected by the nature of the data represented?

Teacher Activity A: Drawing lines on graphs

Further information about the issues raised by this activity can be found in the guidance booklet as described below.

What is in the guidance?

The guidance booklet is published on the ASE website and can be directly downloaded from here:

The Language of Mathematics in Science: A Guide for Teachers
of 11-16 Science

Discussion of the key ideas that are relevant to this activity can be found in the guidance booklet on the following pages:

• Section 3.6  Line graphs and scatter graphs: two related quantities
  (pp 29-32)