The learning sequence described in this article was developed to provide students with a demonstration of the development of box plots from authentic data as an illustration of the advantages gained from using multiple forms of data representation. The sequence follows an authentic process that starts with a problem to which data representations…

Exploratory data analysis (EDA) gives students a feel for the data being considered. Four applications of EDA are discussed: the use of displays, resistant statistics, transformations, and smoothing. (RM)