096a4469-5cd8-4786-9a7c-b59febaa2e73.html

<h4>Activity (15 minutes) </h4>
<p>The goal of this activity is to introduce the data students will examine in the lesson. They will eventually try to model these city populations with an appropriate linear or exponential function, but the starting point for any model is to ask questions about and observe general trends in the data.</p>
<h4>Student Activity </h4>
<blockquote>The table below shows the populations of three cities during different years. Take a moment to think of at least one thing you notice and one thing you wonder.</blockquote>
<table class="os-raise-wideequaltable">
  <thead>
   
    <tr>
      <th scope="col">
        City
      </th>
      <th scope="col">
        1950
      </th>
      <th scope="col">
        1960
      </th>
      <th scope="col">
        1970
      </th>
      <th scope="col">
        1980
      </th>
      <th scope="col">
        1990
      </th>
      <th scope="col">
        2000
      </th>
    </tr> </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>
        Paris
      </td>
      <td>
        6,300,000
      </td>
      <td>
        7,400,000
      </td>
      <td>
        8,200,000
      </td>
      <td>
        8,700,000
      </td>
      <td>
        9,300,000
      </td>
      <td>
        9,700,000
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        Austin
      </td>
      <td>
        132,000
      </td>
      <td>
        187,000
      </td>
      <td>
        254,000
      </td>
      <td>
        346,000
      </td>
      <td>
        466,000
      </td>
      <td>
        657,000
      </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>
        Chicago
      </td>
      <td>
        3,600,000
      </td>
      <td>
        3,550,000
      </td>
      <td>
        3,400,000
      </td>
      <td>
        3,000,000
      </td>
      <td>
        2,800,000
      </td>
      <td>
        2,900,000
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
<br>
<h4> Student Response</h4>
<p>Things students might notice:</p>
<ul>
    <li>The population of Paris is growing more slowly as time goes by. </li>
    <li>The population of Austin is growing more and more rapidly. </li>
    <li>The population of Chicago decreased for many years but started to increase again near the year 2000.</li>
    
</ul>
<p>Things students might wonder:</p>
<ul>
  <li> Why is Austin growing so quickly?</li>
  <li> Why did the population in Chicago decrease? </li>
  <li> Will Austin ever have as many people as Chicago (or Paris)?</li>
</ul>
<h4> Activity Synthesis</h4>
<p>Invite students to share their observations and questions, and then to see if they can, based on the collective responses, describe more generally any trends in each city's population. For example:</p>
<ul>
  <li> Paris has been growing steadily but not at a constant rate. </li>
  <li> Austin has been growing very rapidly. </li>
  <li> Chicago's population has decreased at a variable rate, but it increased in the decade from 1990 to 2000. </li>
</ul>