ABSTRACT
Many students are introduced to linear equations with no prior experience with graphing ratios. Because the slope of a line is a ratio, it is important for all students to have experience graphing ratios, comparing multiple ratios on the Cartesian coordinate plane, and seeing that equivalent ratios have the same slope. Students who have multiple experiences with situations in which they have, or can identify, a point and a slope, two points, or an equation in standard form are better able to move interchangeably among the different representations. Teaching each in an isolated fashion prohibits many students from gaining the flexibility they need to respond to situations given various data representations. In one classroom, the teacher begins her introduction of ratios as relationships that can be graphed on the Cartesian coordinate plane.
