How much do you spend on healthcare each year? Data shows the expenditures in the US rise significantly each year. Young scholars use the data to calculate a rate of change over a 30-year period and look for—as well as provide— possible explanations for any surprises.

Concepts

slope, rate of change, math modeling

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Additional Tags

math

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Instructional Ideas

• Extend the lesson for more advanced pupils by writing a function to model each category; discuss graphical trends of each
• Collect data from the current year and determine if it fits the same trend

Classroom Considerations

• Consider the use of technology to make calculations of larger numbers more manageable

Pros

• Gives the data in a spreadsheet for ease of analysis
• Uses math to model a real-life situation with actual data

Cons

• None

Common Core

8.F.B.4