In this unit students are given the opportunity to investigate a sport of their choice, access statistics through surveys and from the internet, and present their findings as graphs created using technology.
- Pose investigative questions.
- Plan for data collection.
- Gather and collate data.
- Use technology to display and analyse data.
- Discuss features of data displays.
This unit is a very open unit which allows students to investigate a sport of their choice. It should be noted that not all sports have a great deal of easily accessible statistical data available. If you are not confident in your ability to find data on any sport, you could restrict the choice of sports available.
This unit focuses on gathering statistics both through a survey and from the internet. Students will discuss the relevance of data, ways to gather data, and will present the results of their investigation using appropriate technology. This could include using CODAP, online survey forms and spreadsheets. See Travel to school and Measuring up for further information on using technology to analyse data.
The learning opportunities in this unit can be differentiated by providing or removing support to students and by varying the task requirements. Ways to support students include:
- varying the type of data collected; categorical data can be easier to manage than numerical data
- varying the type of analysis expected – and the support given to do the analysis
- providing pre-prepared graph templates to support developing scales for axes
- providing prompts for writing descriptive statements
- providing teacher support at all stages of the investigation
- organising students into groups with mixed levels of mathematical knowledge and confidence to encourage peer learning and scaffolding, the sharing and justifying of ideas, and collaborative learning conversations
- extending teaching into comparison and relationship investigative questions.
The context for this unit can be adapted to suit the interests and experiences of your students. The statistical enquiry process can be applied to many topics and selecting ones that are of interest to your students should always be a priority.For example: Whilst this unit is planned around a statistics project on a sport of the students’ choice, it could be adapted to focus on Olympic sports, popular summer sports, sports from different cultures, team sports, ball sports etc. Revise the context as necessary to engage your students and make connections with their cultural backgrounds, learning from other curriculum areas, interests, and experiences of sports. You could also change the context to focus on another, completely different subject area or other context for health and physical education.
Te reo Māori kupu such as tirohanga tauanga (survey, statistical survey), tūhuratanga tauanga (statistical investigation), taurangi (variable), and kauwahata (graph) could be introduced in this unit and used throughout other mathematical learning.
- Computers with internet access.
Session 1
- Frame the context for the investigation in a way that is relevant and engaging for your students (e.g. we need to decide what new sports equipment we will buy for next term - so we need to find out what the most popular winter sport is for each syndicate in our school). Tell students that they will be spending the week doing a statistics project on a sport of their choice. They will gather information from the internet, from their class and from the rest of the school, and present the data on graphs created using computers.
- Brainstorm as a class what sports could be investigated. Minority sports or sports which generate few statistics are best avoided.
- Split the class into groups to investigate each sport. Groups of three or four are probably best. It doe not matter if two or three groups study the same sport.
- Give the groups time to brainstorm what things they might want to find out about their sport. It is very important to emphasise at this point that they must think of ideas that they have a way to obtain some data on. For example, they could explore who watches their sport and who plays it, because this information can be obtained by surveying the school. They could also find information related to international sporting fixtures as the results of these are often easily accessible on the internet. Circulate and provide support, steering students towards ideas that are able to be investigated.
- Ask students to interrogate the ideas they have come up with and pose investigative questions to explore about their given sport. Investigative questions are the questions we ask of the data. Support students to develop effective investigative questions by questioning, modelling, and working with the students.
Arnold’s (2013) research identified six criteria for what makes a good investigative question. At curriculum level 4, students should be introduced to the criteria, potentially through “discovering” them. See for example, the following lesson on CensusAtSchool New Zealand: https://new.censusatschool.org.nz/resource/posing-summary-investigative-questions/
The six criteria are:
- The variable(s) of interest is/are clear and available or can be collected
- The group of interest is clear
- The intent is clear (e.g. summary, comparison, relationship, time series)
- The investigative question can be answered with the data (e.g. question is specific, data can be collected, ethics)
- The investigative question is one that is worth investigating, that it is interesting, that there is a purpose
- The investigative question allows for analysis to be made of the whole group.
See Travel to school for further information on developing investigative questions, including interrogating ideas for exploration.
- As a class, discuss the investigative questions each group has come up with and ways to answer them. Focus the discussion on whether data are obtainable and how the data could be presented.
Session 2
- Get each group to refer to their list of investigative questions and decide which are best answered by surveying the school.
- Have each group generate a draft of a questionnaire for surveying the school (i.e. develop data collection or survey questions - questions we ask to get the data). See How much bullying and Travel to school for ideas on this.
- As a class discuss each group’s questionnaire and provide feedback on possible improvements. Focus the discussion on whether the survey questions will provide enough information, that is sufficiently detailed, to answer the investigative questions posed.
- Provide time for groups to create a final copy of their questionnaire for use in the next session.
- It may be useful to create an online questionnaire and to potentially combine the different groups questionnaires (this would depend on how many survey questions they have). Paper questionnaires may also be needed for classes that do not have access to computers and the internet.
Session 3
- Provide time for groups to go to each class (that have agreed to be involved) and explain what they are doing and why they are doing it (purpose). They can take their questionnaires (paper copies) if required, or give the link to their online survey form.
- On return to class paper questionnaires need to be entered into the online survey form.
- The data needs to be downloaded into a spreadsheet and then imported in CODAP or similar software. CODAP works with raw data where each respondent’s data is in a single row, online survey software downloads the data in this format. Ensure that you model the use of the software.
- Have each group display their data using appropriate graphs.
- Have each group describe their graphs, making statements that help to answer their investigative questions.
- Bring all the groups together to share what they have done. Other students and the teacher can provide feedback on which graphs are best to represent each set of data. Focus discussion on strengths and weaknesses of different types of graph.
- Have each group select their best graph(s) to keep and display.
Session 4
- Direct the groups to refer back to their initial list of investigative questions and see which ones are best answered either from the internet or from books.
- The bulk of this session is allocated to the students for researching statistics, some websites which may be helpful are listed below;
- At the end of the session come back together as a class and discuss the data obtained by each group.
Have you found information to answer your investigative questions?
Can you put the information into graphs?
What kind of graphs will you use?
Session 5
- Bring all the students together with all their data obtained in the previous session when they were researching on the internet.
What kinds of graph are best for which kinds of information?
What are the important things to remember about each type of graph? - Give students time to enter their data into spreadsheets and produce a range of graphs. Students describe the graphs, answering their investigative questions.
- Bring the graphs together and share with the class.
- All of the graphs produced by each group could be made into a wall display or presentation with commentary added. Utilise the presentation formats that your students are confident using, and that allow them to express their mathematical understanding and ideas (e.g. verbal presentation, video, digital work, diagram, PowerPoint, poster etc.)
Dear parents and whānau,
This week in maths we are investigating sports statistics. Your child will be looking for statistics on a sport of their choice. We would appreciate it if you could help them in any way possible.