These lesson plans were developed in conjunction with the TLRI research project: Building students’ inferential reasoning: statistics curriculum levels 5 and 6.

While each series of activities are set up as lesson plans, they may take more or less than a lesson of class time. They form a possible sequence of learning and each block works together with the other blocks. The lessons are developed using CensusAtSchool (2009) data, they could be adapted to any data set or any year of CensusAtSchool.

Block 1: Introduction to the PPDAC cycle, posing investigative questions and writing descriptions for summary and comparison investigative questions.

Block 2: Introduction to sampling, drawing dot plots and box plots, writing descriptions from dot plots and box plots.

Block 3: Moving from box plots to making the call and writing conclusions.

Lesson 5: Introducing sampling

Focus for lesson:
• Revisit posing investigative questions, some summary mostly comparison.
• Identifying and clarifying the population
• Sampling variability – all samples from a given population are different (can’t tell exactly)
• Distorted view of population – samples give (same) distorted view, similarity among samples
• What is a sample?
• Why sample?

Key competencies:
Thinking:
Predicting / envisioning outcomes
Seek patterns and generalisations

Relating to Others:
Share ideas
Understand others thinking

Using Language, Symbols and Texts:
Know, use and interpret specialised vocabulary
Communicate findings
Interpret visual representations such as graphs, diagrams

Lesson 6: Introducing informal inferential reasoning

Focus for lesson:
• Can the sample tell us something about the population?
• Informal inferential reasoning
• Making I wonder statements about the population.

Key Competencies:

Thinking:
Seek patterns and generalisations

Using Language, Symbols and Texts:
Communicate findings
Interpret visual representations such as graphs, diagrams

Lesson 7: Introduction to box plots

Focus for lesson:
• Introducing the idea of middle group and overall spread.
• Describing the position of middle groups relative to one another.
• Describing spread of middle group and spread overall.

Key Competencies:
Thinking:
Exploring and using patterns and relationships in data
Analyse
Make connections

Using Language, Symbols and Texts:
Explore different representations
Interpret visual representations such as graphs, diagrams

Managing Self:
Seek understanding
Be self-motivated

Lesson 8: Formalising, description and inference – box plots

Focus for lesson:
• Drawing box plots by finding medians and quartiles from dot plots.
• Describing box plots making I notice statements.
• Inferring from box plots making I wonder statements.
• Focus on the language of description and inference.

Key Competencies:
Thinking:
Make connections
Select appropriate methods
Interpret

Using Language, Symbols and Texts:
Explore different representations
Interpret visual representations such as graphs, diagrams

Participating and Contributing:
Build on prior knowledge

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Level 5 Statistical Investigations Lesson Plans