We hope you all had a great summer holiday and are looking forward to teaching lots of innovative, well-designed statistics lessons this year.

To help you out we start the year off with a great new data card resource for interactive and effective statistics lessons created by Anna Martin, and some helpful tips on describing Time series trends prepared by the Mathematics and Statistics Facilitators and the NZSA Education Committee.

Returning students may ask you to review their 2015 external exam scripts. Derek Smith has provided links to the level 1, level 2 and level 3 cut scores. Please use this information to inform students if they should proceed with the reconsideration process. Please use your professional judgement with the question totals and overall total (Grade Score marking used) in the November Externals, which is not the same as that used for the assessment of the e-Mcat/MCAT. The assessment conditions for the 2016 externals are also now available on the NZQA website. Level 1, Level 2, Level 3.

As you and your colleagues review and reflect on the 2015 year, we hope CensusAtSchool delivered useful content and information. CensusAtSchool aims to provide the most up to date, statistics teaching resources and information, in the news, by NZSA or other Statistical forums or on the internet. If you want a “heads up” on what to read, watch or do this year the best place to start is right here on CensusAtSchool.

If you ever think that our heads haven’t been up high enough and we seem to have missed something that’s coming soon, please let us know: censusatschoolnz@gmail.com

Please forward this email to any new colleagues who may not receive our weekly emails, these can help keep your colleagues up-to-date with the resources and information on CensusAtSchool.

Nga mihi

Rachel, Chris and Anne

Theme: Making connections

Date: Friday 27^th November

Venue: Tamaki Campus, University of Auckland,

Plenary speaker: Lillian Grace, CEO and founder Figure.NZ

Registrations opened: Tuesday 27 October

Online registrations will close Monday 9 November 5pm.

Workshops will cover levels 4 to 8 of the NZ curriculum incorporating material suitable for years 7 to 13 (and including Scholarship at year 13)

Detailed information on workshops and registration can be found via links at

https://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/en/for/schools/statistics-teachers-day.html

Today is World Statistics Day!

Watch students at Kapiti College show how they use the inquiry cycle to make conclusions from data.

Today organisations, teachers and students from all over the world will be celebrating the role that data plays in our lives now and in the future.

Statistics New Zealand have launched a Level 3 time series resource to showcase how they analyze data, this presentation was well received at NZAMT 2015.

Other World Statistics Day classroom activities include a movie showing students how they can contribute to a data-driven future, and a poster explaining how statistics around the world are use to make decisions. These could be a great way to generate discussion about how we use statistics in the world outside school.

Also Anna Martin has produced a very addictive game to celebrate World Statistics day, what does your data look like?

From January 2016, Statistics New Zealand’s Schools Corner will no longer be available.

From February 2016, relevant resources will be relocated to here CensusAtSchool and the nzmaths website.

Are your students ready for an on-line statistical modeling challenge for maths week!? Expose your students to future careers that will be found at the intersection of data, visual arts and modelling.

Anna Fergusson has created a word difficulty ranking generator, students can gather data to try and model and predict a ‘readability score’. Statistics teachers if you would like to find out more background about the challenge visit Anna’s website.

How will the challenge run?

Monday to Tuesday

Students test their own words through the on-line text analyser, record data from these tests, and try to develop a way to predict the readability score. They should make some notes/diagrams for their model and use these to predict readability scores for the first set of reserved words.

Wednesday to Thursday

Students have access to check the first set of reserved words. They enter the readability score they would predict for each reserved word, and see how this compares to the actual readability score. This should help them refine their prediction model.

Friday

Students have access to check the second set of reserved words. They enter the readability score they would predict for each reserved word, and see how this compares to the actual readability score. They should only do this once (i.e. this should be their final evaluation of the model).

Keen to give it a go?

Here’s the place to send students: http://mathstatic.co.nz/predictive-text-challenge

Dear Educator,

The census is the official count of people and dwellings in New Zealand. At Statistics NZ we are committed to working with community groups and service providers like you, to make sure everyone can take part in the census and benefit from the information we produce. Students’ families will be involved in completing the next Census, your role in educating students about what, how and why statistics are collected, and the integral part they play in decision making cannot be overlooked.

The enclosed infographic poster about education and training in New Zealand is one of our latest census releases. The infographic shows some of the key facts about education and training from the 2013 Census – including information about people with qualifications; highest qualification; post-school qualification field of study; and study participation.

You can find more information on this topic in the summary report 2013 Census QuickStats about education and training, available on our website.

The education and training infographic is just one way we are displaying the data we collect, to inform and broaden our audience base and tell New Zealand’s statistical stories.

Other products on our website that may be of interest include:

• Infographics on a range of topics – which tell New Zealand’s statistical stories visually
• QuickStats – summary reports about topics including Māori; income; work and unpaid activities; transport and communication; and education and training
• Stat – a tool that lets you create tables of the data you want from large datasets
• Schools corner – resources to help you learn and teach about statistics, the census, and other topics.

Census information helps determine how billions of dollars are spent in the community. It is needed for planning vital public services such as education, health, housing, and transport. Census data also provides information for community service funding. Businesses, councils, community groups, and iwi also use census information to plan for the future.

We are making big changes to the 2018 Census, to modernise how and what we collect. For example, in 2018, we are expecting most people in New Zealand to provide their information online. We will be asking for your help in the lead-up to the 2018 Census, as you play an important part in helping us reach a range of audiences.

We hope you take the time to have a look at our products and look forward to working with you in the future to promote the importance of the census.

For further information on the census, including resources in different languages, visit http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census

Ngā mihi

Denise McGregor

Census Manager

Articles and updates on all aspects of Mathematics and Statistics for teaching and learning.

Professional reading for middle managers and teachers.

Updates to Statistics standards on page 4:

Experiments: AS91265 AS91538

Bivariate data: AS90136 and AS91581

Secondary Mathematics and Statistics Newsletter Term 2 2015

Be part of giant graphs and visual data representations, stretching across the fields of Wellington’s Macalister park. Artist Siv B Fjærestad is working with public art producers Letting Space, in partnership with Wellington City Council to create a data inspired artwork on the fields of Macalister and Liardet Street Parks, Berhampore: a dynamic backdrop for activity.

Now all they need is you! Opening Public Picnic Sunday 19 April 2015 12-3pm for a programme of family events and a community picnic.

Over 2013 Fjærestad and volunteers surveyed the local community to inform the painting’s design and use.  Fjærestad states “The painting design contains representations of statistical data and ideas for the park collected from the community, visual references to current activity and also to the landscape and its history. The park is perceived, used and interpreted differently at different times of the day and week. This work involves contributions from local communities, sporting groups and businesses, and extends what we consider both painting and public art to comprise. It asks questions about how we use our city public commons.” The paintings are for the public to look at and play on, encouraging leadership from the community to value the park as a public good.

Projected Fields has been funded by Wellington City Council’s Public Art Fund.