Session One

1. Show the following data card to the class and explain what a data card is, i.e. a piece of paper contains three pieces of information about one person.
   
2. Discuss the importance of knowing exactly what each piece of data is about. 
   What could “tūī” mean? What could “reading” mean? What could “Even date” mean?
3. Ask the class to tell you something about this student. 
   Does anyone in the class fit this data card?
   Do you know someone that fits this data card that is not in this class?
   How many different people could this data card be correct for?
4. Turn the data card over to reveal the name of someone familiar that fits this data card. The point to get across is that a data card could fit many people but each data card is about one person only.
5. Explain to the students that the way to view each piece of data is to see it as the answer to a data collection or survey question/pātai. Get them to suggest the data collection questions that give these three pieces of information. Discuss how some students could answer the same data collection question differently, e.g. “What type of native bird do you like?” A more specific data collection question is needed, e.g. “What type of native bird do you like best- pīwakawaka, tūī or kererū?
   What would a data card about you look like?
6. Hand out a data card to each student to fill out (Copymaster 2). Have each student write their name on the back of the data card hand and have a student collect these.
7. After this session the teacher needs to arrange the data cards onto pieces of paper and photocopy them. One set is made for each pair of students. Photocopying onto coloured paper is suggested to make it easy to recognise the class data set. The names of the students on the back of the data cards are not needed. This data set will be used during Session Three.

Session Two

1. Start the session by reminding the students about the data card they filled in during Session One. Select a data card one of the class filled out and read out the three pieces of data and ask the questions, “Whose data card could this one be?”, “Could it be anyone else in the class?”, “Could it be someone else in the school?”, “Could it be a teacher or other adult?” Repeat this several times.
2. Organise the students into pairs and hand out to each pair a set of Data Set One, Copymaster 1. Tell them this is a group of students from another school and get them to cut out all the data cards. Once the data cards are cut out, have the students sort and organise the data cards to find out things about this data set. Remind them we are interested in the group and not individual students.
3. At a suitable time, as the pairs of students are organising the data cards,  have the class stop and look at the different ways the data cards have been arranged. Briefly discuss the different ways, along with writing up or drawing the different ways on to the board for all students to see. The question “What is good about this way?” or “When would it be good to organise the cards like this?” could be asked.
   
4. Ask the following investigative questions and get each pair of students to organise the data cards into one of the above arrangements to show the answer.
   • Which native bird do students in the class like the best - pīwakawaka, tūī or kererū? Organise into rows.
   • What is the favourite subject in our class out of reading, writing and maths? Organise into columns.
   • Do more students have odd or even birthdates? Arrange into groups.
5. Have the students suggest similar investigative questions they could explore then encourage them to look at the data cards, organising and reorganising, to find out as much as they can about this group of students.
   Initially encourage the students to look at one category at a time then, encourage students to look for categories within other categories, e.g. What favourite subject (reading, writing or maths) is most popular with students who like tūī? 
6. Write on a large piece of paper what the class discovers or get each pair to write up what they find out about this group. Keep this information, as it can be used later to compare with other data sets.

Session Three

1. Explain to the class that today they will be sorting and arranging data cards, like Session Two, except they will be using the data cards they wrote about themselves. Before the copied data cards are handed out, discuss what the students expect to find out. 
   What do you think we will find out about our class?
   Will it be mainly different or similar to the group looked at in Session Two?
2. Hand out the copied data cards from Session One to each pair of students. The pairs are to cut out the data cards, sort them and organise them to look for other interesting things about the class.
3. The teacher is to move around getting each pair to explain and show what they have found out. The teacher is to encourage the pairs to add detail to their answers, moving students from, “Yes, there are more students who like tūī than pīwakawaka or kererū.” to “Yes, there are 10 more students who like tūī compared to the total of 8 students who like pīwakawaka and kererū.”
4. Conclude by considering the statements the students made at the start of the day and seeing how many were true and discussing other interesting things they found out about the class.

Session Four

Today the students, in pairs (tuakana/teina model could work well here), will design and collect their own data using data cards. Each pair of students needs to design three data collection questions to ask other students in the class. 

1. Discuss and brainstorm suitable data collection questions. Data collection questions for this activity need to be answered with either yes or no, or an option selected. Keep the optional answers to a maximum of three options.
   Sample data collection questions:
   • What is your favourite kai - pizza or burgers?
   • Have you ever caught a fish?
   • If you could choose, would you sing, dance or read a book?
   • Do you prefer to play at the beach or the river?
2. Once suitable data collection questions have been developed they are to be written onto a large data card.
   
3. Before starting to collect data each pair of students needs to write three investigative questions they could ask of the data they will collect and to make statements about what they expect to find out about the class for these investigative questions. Students should be encouraged to pose investigative questions about categories within categories, leading to statements about what they will find e.g. “People who like to read will select burgers as their favourite kai ” or “Most people surveyed will like  kererū”.
4. Each pair of students is to cut out enough blank data cards for the class and number them 1 to n (number in class). Once completed the pair of students are to ask half the students each, their three data collection questions and fill out a data card for each student. The student’s name needs to be written on the back to make sure all students are asked. They need to remember to complete their data cards for themselves as well.

Session Five

In pairs the students are to sort and organise their data cards to look for other interesting things about the class and to see if the statements they made about the class were correct.

After a set time each pair reports what they found out about the class. This could be in the form of a written report with some sentences about what they found out, a conference with their teacher or an oral presentation to the class.

Session 1: Getting our travel data

PROBLEM: Generating ideas for statistical investigation and developing investigative questions

We are going to explore daily travel to school.

1. Discuss what information the class could collect about their daily travel to school. Collect ideas on the board.
2. For each idea, identify potential variables that they could “measure”, e.g., method of travel; number of passengers per vehicle; time to travel to school; distance travelled to school; number of traffic lights/roundabouts/stop signs between their house and school.
3. For each potential variable identify if it is categorical or numerical.  For numerical variables identify if they are discrete (counted) or continuous (measurement).
4. In groups select an idea/variable to explore further.  Each group should have a different idea/variable.
5. As a group the students interrogate their ideas/variable by answering the following questions:
   • Is this an area that the students in our class would be happy to share information with everyone? If not reject the idea [ethics] (refer criteria 4).
   • Can we collect data to answer an investigative question based on this area of interest? If not reject the idea [ability to gather data to answer the investigative question] (refer criteria 4).
   • What would be the purpose of asking about the idea that you have? Do you think it will provide meaningful information about our topic on daily travel to school? How might the information be used to improve people's lives? If it is not purposeful then reject the idea [purposeful or interesting] (refer criteria 5).
   • Would the investigative question that we pose to explore the idea involve everyone in the class? If not, then reject the idea [involving the whole group] (refer criteria 6).

If the students end up rejecting their idea, they select a new one and repeat the process.

6. Each group develops an investigative question to explore their idea/variable. To help them get started, ask the groups to identify what the variable is (this is what we want to measure, refer criteria 1) and to describe the group (this is who we will measure, the group is likely to be “our class”, refer criteria 2).
7. Groups to interrogate their investigative questions by asking the following questions:
   • Is the variable clear? (refer criteria 1)
   • Is the group we are investigating clear? (refer criteria 2)
   • Is the question purposeful?  (refer criteria 5)
   • Is the question about the whole group? Check that the question is not just finding out about an individual or smaller group of the whole class (refer criteria 6).
   • Is the question one that we can collect data for? (refer criteria 4)
   • Is it clear whether the question is a summary investigative question (about a single variable) or a comparison investigative question (a single variable compared across two or more groups)? (refer criteria 3)

Session 2: Planning to collect travel data

PLAN: Planning to collect data to answer our investigative question

1. Each group decides how they will collect their data by defining the variable and working out how to measure it so that they get valid and reliable measures. They develop survey questions to ask the class. Roam and support each group. Consider planning the different groups to include a mix of more knowledgeable and less knowledgeable students to encourage tukana-teina. Students may also benefit from being provided with a graphic organiser that can be used to develop and refine their plan.
2. Groups interrogate their plan using the following interrogative questions:
   • Can a single measurement capture the ideas needed to answer the investigative question?
   • Is there a usual way of measuring this variable?
   • Does this measurement really capture the variable I want to measure (validity)?
   • If I were to measure the same units again, would I get very similar results (reliability)?
   • If different people were to make the same measurement will they get very similar results (reliability)?
   • Do I have the equipment to make this measure?
3. Groups update their plan as required.
4. Groups decide on how they are going to record their data. If appropriate, encourage the use of digital tools such as Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel.
5. As a class you might decide to use a Google form (or similar) to collect the data. Encourage your class to consider the sample they are collecting data from, and how appropriate the use of digital technology will be for these people. 
6. Make sure that a survey question about method of travel to school and time taken to travel to school are included if none of the groups have chosen to do these. The survey questions from the CensusAtSchool questionnaire are recommended for use. The survey questions are:
   What is the main way you usually travel to school? (Choice from) walk | car | bus | train | bike | boat | scooter | other
   How long does it usually take you to get to school? Answer to the nearest minute.
   ___________ minutes

DATA: Collecting and organising data

7. The groups share their survey questions that they will use to collect data from the class at the next session.  Any data that requires students to take an action to be able to give a response the next time needs to be highlighted.  For example, if students are required to know how long it takes to get to school, they need to know this so that the next day they can be conscious of recording the time taken to get to school.

Session 3: Collecting and organising our travel data

In this session the students will be using an online tool for data analysis.  One suggested free online tool is CODAP.  Feel free to use other tools you are familiar with.  This session is written with CODAP as the online tool and is assuming students are familiar with CODAP.

If your students are unfamiliar with CODAP see:

• Planning a statistical investigation (level 3): Analysis session part 1 for an introduction to using CODAP.
• You could use the Getting started with CODAP example which has a built-in video that shows the basic features of CODAP and gets you started using the tool. Other support videos can be found here.

The main features that students need to be familiar with are how to draw a graph and how to import their data. More on importing data into CODAP can be found here.

1. Allow students time to collect their data for their survey questions. 
   • It is possible that a single spreadsheet could be set up and the students individually put their data into the spreadsheet for each of the survey questions. Make sure the spreadsheet is saved in CSV (Comma Separated Variable) so it can be imported into CODAP or other graphing tools.
   • A Google form (or similar) could be created for all the survey questions and the students complete this.
   • Alternatively, students create a paper table to collect the data into and then input this into an electronic spreadsheet.

The aim is to have the data in an electronic form so they can use technology to make the displays.

ANALYSIS: Using an online tool to make data displays

2. Share the spreadsheet with the students (if they do not already have access).  This should be shared as a .csv file.
3. Students import the data into CODAP (see here for information on how to do this).
4. Students explore different ways in CODAP to graph their data to answer their investigative question. 
5. Students present their graph to the rest of the class. This could be through showing their CODAP working document. They could also be given time to create a digital presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, Canva, or Microsoft Word.
6. As each graph is presented, ask the students what “they notice…” about the data. Encourage groups to add the “I notice…” statements to their display.  
   • In CODAP they can write I notice statements using a text box.
   • On a Google slide/PowerPoint, Word/Google doc they can type the "I notice...." statements below the graph.
7. Get the students to share their graphs and statements with you and their classmates. Find the method of travel graph and the time taken to travel to school graph and have it ready for the next session. If no groups chose these variables, make the graphs ready for the next session.
8. Ask the students what they notice about the graphs for the different types of variables. For example, how does a graph of categorical data compare to a graph of numerical data?
9. Homework activity for students: In a couple of sessions we will compare how we travel to school with how our parents and caregivers travelled to school. Overnight can you ask your parents and caregivers the following two survey questions (Copymaster 1): 
   • What was the main way you usually travelled to school when you were my age? (Choose from) walk | car | bus | train | bike | boat | scooter | other__________
     If they select "other", record how they travelled to school.
   • How long did it take you to travel to school (your best guess) in minutes?

Session 4: Making comparisons

1. Before the lesson, set up a Google form or similar to collect the data obtained from the students about their parents and caregivers that they filled in overnight. Students who have shown a high level of proficiency and understanding in the learning prior to this session could be tasked with creating this survey. Ensure that you check the survey before sending it out to whānau.
2. Ask the students to complete the two-question survey with the data from their parents and caregivers.
3. Collect in their sheets (so you can check data input if needed).
4. In preparation for session 5, download the parent and caregiver data and import into a CODAP file.  Share the CODAP file with your students.

How do we compare with other New Zealanders our age?

5. Students from around New Zealand have also been asked how they travel to school, and the time taken to travel to school. This data has been collected and is available on the CensusAtSchool site.
   
   In this session students will get their own sample of students their age from the CensusAtSchool database to compare with the class data from the previous sessions for these two variables. 
   
   Show students the CensusAtSchool random sampler, remembering to accept the conditions of use. Once in there, familiarise the students with the tool. There are five parts to the tool.
   1. Select database – here we can choose any database from 2005 onwards.  Recommend they use the latest database (this is the pre-selected option).
   2. Select subpopulation – because we want to compare with other New Zealanders our age, we want to select specific years. When we select specific years, we get a drop-down list that allows us to select the same year level as the students. Select the year level.
      
   3. Select variables – because we want to look at method of travel and travel time to school, we only want to select specific variables. When we select specific variable, we get a drop-down list of all the variables in the survey. 
      
      Ask the students which variables we should select if we want to compare with our class data about "method of travel to school" and "time taken to get to school". Select these two variables. 
   4. Select sample type – leave as random sample
   5. Enter sample size (Maximum 1000) – suggest they select 30 as this is similar in size to a class.
       
6. Once they have made the selections in the five parts, students click on "generate sample" and download the sample to their desktop.
7. Students save the .csv file and then import into CODAP. (The video here shows how to import data from CensusAtSchool.)
8. Once the data has been collected from the site, ask the students to discuss how they might make a comparison with their own data.
9. Students display the data for the two variables using CODAP (Their data and that of the sample students). They should write “I notice” statements about what they see in their data from CensusAtSchool.
10. If students have not yet learnt how to convert the categorical data into a bar graph show them how to do this. Select the graph and the tool bar comes up.  Select the bar graph icon and select fuse dots into bars. Students can then select the ruler and choose percent.  This will show the percentage in each bar allowing for comparisons between data sets of different sizes more easily.
    ​​​​​     
11. Ask the students how they might compare the numerical data. For example, having the same scale on the x-axis is important to help with visual comparisons.
12. Students then compare their CensusAtSchool sample with the class data noticing what is similar and what is different.  
    Note: If the students have all downloaded their own individual samples from CensusAtSchool the discussions each student makes could be quite different.  If you want them all to have the same sample from CensusAtSchool you can download a sample yourself, import into CODAP and then share the CODAP document with your students (see this video on saving and sharing CODAP documents).
13. Reflect on which of the data types (categorical or numerical) was easiest to compare and why.  

 How do we compare with the USA?

1. Other students from around the world have also been asked how they travel to school. For example, the USA. The USA data is available at this link.  
   • As with the New Zealand data, confirm the conditions of use
   • Select the CAS USA database
   • Make the total sample size 30
   • Download and save
   • Import into CODAP

Note: the filters might not be working on the USA database, therefore it might not be possible to get an age appropriate data set. Including all ages should be fine for the comparison ideas for the travel to school.

2. Once the data has been collected from the site, get the students to discuss how they might make a comparison with their own data. 
   What do they notice is different about this data set compared with the one we did for the New Zealand data? We have all of the variables in the USA data set whereas in the New Zealand data set we just had the two variables we wanted to explore.
   Which variables do we want to graph from this data set to compare with our class data and the New Zealand data?  Students can convert the data from a table view to a case card view (in CODAP), this makes it easier to see the variables. Students identify that travel_to_school and travel_time_to_school are the variables we are interested in.
    
3. Conclude with a reporting time where the students are given the chance to show their graphs and to discuss what they have found out. They will probably have compared each mode of travel between the three sets of data and the time taken to get to school between three sets of data. Can they give reasons for any differences they have found?

Session 5: Has the method of travel to school changed?

1. Explain that today we will look at how our parents and caregivers traveled to school.  Ask the students to predict what they think will be the same as our class and what will be different.  Capture the ideas on the board or a large sheet of paper.
2. Share the parents and caregivers’ data set with the students (share the CODAP document).
3. Get the students to make displays and discuss how the data set is the same and different from the class data and then compare with the New Zealand sample and the USA sample.  
4. What conclusions have they reached? What factors mean that this may not be a totally valid comparison? (e.g., the differing ages of the parents and caregivers, the fact that parents and caregivers may not have lived in this area when they were young, etc).

CONCLUSION: Answering the investigative question and reporting findings

5. Students develop a short report to share with their parents and caregivers that compares the class data with the parents and caregivers’ data. 

Additional related exploration

Exploring across five countries

Using the old random sampler https://new.censusatschool.org.nz/tools/random-sampler/ on CensusAtSchool, students can select the CAS international database.  If they select subpopulation and then country, boxes will show so they can select 30 from each country.

They can download the sample and import into CODAP to explore.

The data set contains 20 variables, two of which are the travel variables we have been looking at. 

Encourage students to explore the full data set using CODAP and develop their graphing and describing skills.