In this course, instructional time should focus on four critical areas: (1) developing understanding of and applying proportional relationships; (2) developing understanding of operations with rational numbers and working with expressions and linear equations; (3) solving problems involving scale drawings and informal geometric constructions, and working with two- and three-dimensional shapes to solve problems involving area, surface area, and volume; and (4) drawing inferences about populations based on samples. Students engage with relevant mathematical contexts to make math meaningful. As students encounter challenging problems, and practice asking for help and a willingness to learn from others, they build the social emotional learning competencies of self-management, self awareness, relationship skills, and social awareness.