4938
/www/nrich/html/content/id/4938/
1
2011-02-01T00:00:01
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Do you know about <a href="http://www.censusatschool.org.uk">Census
at School</a>? It is a project which collects data from children
all around the world and makes it available on their website for
anyone to look at.<br></br>
<br></br>
This table comes from an old page on the Census at School website.
This data was collected from the first questionnaires in Autumn
2000 and includes responses from children in England, Wales and
Northern Ireland. It shows how pupils travel to school:<br></br>
<br></br>
<mdo:image height="375" width="573" alt="travel to school table" src="traveltoschool.gif"></mdo:image><br></br>
<br></br>
Which is the most popular way of getting to school for primary
pupils?<br></br>
How about for secondary pupils?<br></br>
Can you think of any reasons why these might be different?<br></br>
Which is the most common way of travelling to school overall?<br></br>
Can you explain why this answer is different again?<br></br>
What do you think the "Other" category means?<br></br>
<br></br>
Conduct your own survey on how everyone gets to school, perhaps in
your class or year group.<br></br>
Present your results in a table, chart or graph and please send it
in to us.<br></br>
Compare your findings to those in the table (you might want to look
just at the primary or secondary data, depending on how old you
are).<br></br>
How are your results different?<br></br>
Are there any similarities?<br></br>
Can you think of any reasons why your findings might be different
or similar?<br></br>
<br></br>
Don't forget that <a href="http://www.censusatschool.org.uk">Census
at School</a> is always looking for more data, so if you would like
your class or school to take part, then you could talk to your
teacher.<br></br></mdoxml>
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<p class="editorial">Kathryn and Amelia from Ardingly College
looked at the first part of this question. They say:</p>
The most popular way of primary school pupils getting to school is
by car. Secondary pupils prefer the bus. These may be different
beacause a young child is not as responsible as a secondary child.
Older children will probably want to be around their friends more,
so will prefer to take the bus.<br></br>
<br></br>
The most popular way of travelling to school over all is walking.
This is probably because there are a lot of little primary schools
dotted around the country; a lot more than secondary schools. This
means people are more likely to live nearer a primary school so
will be able to walk there. There aren't many secondary schools, so
children will need either a bus or car to get to school. <br></br>
<br></br>
The other category means other modes of transport that are not
listed because not many children prefer this way of getting to
school.<br></br>
<br></br>
<p class="editorial">Thank you, Kathryn and Amelia. Dhienell, who
goes to Sion Manning Secondary Girls School, suggests that one of
these other forms of transport could be a taxi. Perhaps you could
suggest other reasons why walking is the most popular way of
travelling to school overall?</p>
<p class="editorial">Tristan and Emily from St James' School
add:</p>
In secondary school you usually travel around on your own where as
in primary schools you usually aren't aloud to travel to school on
your own. <br></br>
<div style="clear: both;">Transport such as scooters, rollerblades
and maybe boats could be used in the other
category.</div>
<p class="editorial">Unfortunately, you haven't sent us the results
of any surveys that you have carried out yourselves. We would love
to hear about them if you do and to see how they compare with the
data on Census at School.</p>
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<h2>Real Statistics</h2>
<br></br>
Do you know about <a href="http://www.censusatschool.org.uk">Census at School</a>? It is a project which collects data from children all around the world and makes it available on their website for anyone to look at.<br></br>
<br></br>
This table comes from an old page on the Census at School website. This data was collected from the first questionnaires in Autumn 2000 and includes responses from children in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It shows how pupils travel to school:<br></br>
<br></br>
<mdo:image alt="travel to school table" height="375" src="traveltoschool.gif" width="573"></mdo:image><br></br>
<br></br>
Which is the most popular way of getting to school for primary pupils?<br></br>
How about for secondary pupils?<br></br>
Can you think of any reasons why these might be different?<br></br>
Which is the most common way of travelling to school overall?<br></br>
Can you explain why this answer is different again?<br></br>
What do you think the "Other" category means?<br></br>
<br></br>
Conduct your own survey on how everyone gets to school, perhaps in your class or year group.<br></br>
Present your results in a table, chart or graph and please send it in to us.<br></br>
Compare your findings to those in the table (you might want to look just at the primary or secondary data, depending on how old you are).<br></br>
How are your results different?<br></br>
Are there any similarities?<br></br>
Can you think of any reasons why your findings might be different or similar?<br></br>
<br></br>
Don't forget that <a href="http://www.censusatschool.org.uk">Census at School</a> is always looking for more data, so if you would like your class or school to take part, then you could talk to your teacher.</div>
<br></br>
<h3><span style="font-weight: bold;">Why do this problem?</span></h3>
<div><a href="http://nrich.maths.org/public/viewer.php?obj_id=4938&part=index">This problem</a> is a great way for children to interrogate data and really think about possible reasons for trends, rather than just accepting conclusions without digging deeper. They have an opportunity not just to interpret data, but to collect data for a purpose (comparison).</div>
<br></br>
<h3>Possible approach</h3>
<div>You could look at the table as a whole class and encourage learners to discuss the questions in groups which would be a good precursor for them conducting their own survey. Encourage presentation of their findings in a variety of different ways so that you can build a display in the classroom.</div>
<br></br>
<div>Once their results are displayed (perhaps several days later), you can gather the group as a whole to look at them collectively. By printing off a copy of the table in the problem as well, you could add comments from the children to the display as they make comparisons.</div>
<br></br>
<div><a href="http://www.censusatschool.org.uk">Census at School</a> is a fantastic resource for teaching data handling. You can download raw data as well as tables such as the one in this problem and there are suggestions for classroom activities (for example using spreadsheets). Do remember that your class or school can take part and contribute to the growing data sets.</div>
<br></br>
<h3>Key questions</h3>
<div>How will you collect your own data?</div>
<div>Will you ask everyone individually?</div>
<div>How will you record what they say?</div>
<div>How many people are you going to ask?</div>
<div>How will you work out the percentage of people using each method of travel?</div>
<br></br>
<h3>Possible extension</h3>
<div>Children could be encouraged to interrogate other surveys in newspapers or magazines in a similar way. You could collect some suitable articles for them to look at and challenge them to ask questions about the data presented.</div>
<br></br>
<h3>Possible support</h3>
<div>Software packages will help pupils present their findings in a number of different ways.</div>
<br></br>
<br></br></mdoxml>
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<mdoxml version="1.0">How will you collect your own data?<br></br>
Will you ask everyone individually?<br></br>
How will you record what they say?<br></br>
How many people are you going to ask?<br></br>
How will you work out the percentage of people using each method of
travel?<br></br></mdoxml>
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Primary - car<br></br>
Seconary - bus<br></br>
Possibly different as more independent as get older<br></br>
Overall - walking<br></br>
Other - not in above categories e.g. tractor!!!<br></br>
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Real Statistics
Have a look at this table of how children travel to school. How
does it compare with children in your class?
Handling, Processing and Representing Data
Comparing data
Handling, Processing and Representing Data
Tabular data
Collecting Data
Data collection
Admin
Upper primary mapping document