Making a Line Graph from Data

Have students choose the scale before they plot any points. Ask them to explain each graph's title and axes to a partner before they answer the questions.

Graph sample data for cooling water on a line graph, then predict the temperature at 24 minutes. The directions on the page read: Read the text and table. Graph the data: write a title, label both axes with units, choose a scale, plot the points and connect them. Then answer the questions. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 6th Grade scientific method, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with graphing data. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

Put the independent variable, the one the scientist controls, on the x-axis. Put the dependent variable, the one being measured, on the y-axis.

Choose a scale that counts by the same amount on every square and fits all the data. Then label each axis with its name and unit.

Extend your line past the last data point and read the value. On the cooling water graph, students extend the line to predict the temperature at 24 minutes.