Linear Regression Modeling with Supply, Demand, and Market Equilibrium

 

8th grade students are using their knowledge of positive, and negative correlations to create a Market equilibrium for a needed product. Students created a good they felt was needed in the world, and created supply and demand curves to go along with their product. Products ranged from a pill that can do anything, to an animal translator, to a magic closet that picks your clothes for you each morning based on the weather forecast!

Of all the things we study in middle school math, this is quite possibly one of the most important units for our students. The ever-lingering question, "When will I ever use this?" is easily answered by this question. Whether you go into a STEM profession or a humanities profession, linear regression (or linear modeling) is used again and again to predict outcomes between two related variables. For instance, is there a causal relationship between airline ticket prices and holidays? Or, how does an increase in the temperature change the demand for ice cream? Linear modeling helps us to predict whether variables are causally related (or not) and allows us to predict potential outcomes in everyday life.