News

Kia ora tātou,

We’re excited to share our new data cards for CensusAtSchool! You can find these in the data section of our site.

Data Cards using the CensusAtSchool 2023 Database

We have created different data cards for students in Years 1-3, Years 4-6, and Years 7-8. Explore them now!

What are Data Cards?

Data cards are one way of storing data about a person. Each data card represents one person.

Create Data Cards Using Your CensusAtSchool Class Data

Use this Google Sheet we have created.

Using Data Cards

Data cards allow for hands-on activities such as making data visualisations to analyse the data for an investigative question. Learn more

More New CensusAtSchool Resources

• Year 3: Pineapple on Pizza Explore classroom preferences around pineapple on pizza then explore secondary data using the 2023 CensusAtSchool Year 1-3 data cards.
• Year 5: Exploring our World: Teaching Plan This teaching plan uses the Dollar Street photos and videos as a data source for a statistical enquiry.

Elsewhere… 

• The New Zealand Garden Bird Survey is underway until July 7. A great data-gathering activity for your students. “Best homework eva!” Learn more
• Maths Week is coming up August 12-16. Maths Week provides free maths and stats resources for teachers and students. 250,000 students registered for Maths Week last year! Prizes are on offer if you submit an idea to promote Maths Week. Register now

Have a wonderful two-week break!

Nga mihi nui
Rachel, Anne, Pip, and Chris

Kia ora tātou,

Mānawatia a Matariki! We have a lot of brand-new resources using CensusAtSchool data to share.

New Junior Resources

Year 1: The Perfect Pizza Party

A statistical enquiry aimed at Year 1 ākonga, around designing pizza toppings for a pizza party. This lesson has strong literacy links to the letter p.

Year 1: Carry Your Bag

This lesson explores an everyday context using the PPDAC cycle to show ākonga that statistical ideas are everywhere and we can collect data to answer questions that are interesting to us.

Year 1: Cats or Dogs?

This lesson uses the PPDAC cycle to explore an investigative question that will appeal to Year 1 ākonga. Kaiako can take the lesson further by following the ideas provided to make this lesson into a series of lessons.

Year 2: Our Lost Teeth

A statistical enquiry aimed at Year 2 ākonga, around lost teeth. This includes follow-up suggestions for future discussions and data analysis over time.

Year 4: How Many Skips Can We Do in 30 Seconds?

Students are involved in all stages of the statistical enquiry cycle, from posing the investigative question, planning for and collecting data, to analysing and answering the investigative question.

New Senior Resources

Year 8: Fabulous Feet

Students are introduced to using scatter plots through the context of foot lengths. They use data from CensusAtSchool and interrogate this to see if they think the data is valid and reliable. Students then collect their own data and offer recommendations to the CensusAtSchool team to support improved validity and reliability of the data.

Nga mihi nui
Rachel, Anne, Pip, and Chris

Kia ora tātou,

Wow! Our latest survey has achieved record-breaking participation, with 45,794 students participating so far, providing real, relevant data for use in the classroom.

You have until the end of the year to get involved, so if you want your students to experience hands-on measurements and data entry which sparks conversations about managing variation and dealing with real student data, get registered and do it!

New Junior Classroom Resources

Year 1: Fabulous Feet

Explore practical ways to answer an investigative question about foot length and learn about PPDAC.

Year 4: How Many Skips Can We Do in 30 Seconds?

Students are involved in all stages of the statistical enquiry cycle, from posing the investigative question, planning for and collecting data, to analysing and answering the investigative question.

Data Explorer Cards

Introduction to PPDAC using Lego, birds, lost property, plastics, and more. Question prompts support learners to explore problems, plan, collect data, analyse and draw conclusions.

New Senior Curriculum Resources

Tūturu and CensusAtSchool – AMA Online June 2024 Webinar

A collaborative resource to help students explore data, what it means to them, their peers, and their well-being; and consider what health-promoting actions can be taken to help students navigate a digital world and a world where alcohol exists.

Embracing Creativity Through Explorations in Probability and Modelling – AMA Online June 2024 Talk by Dr. Anna Fergusson

Check out the “walking tree” the winner of this year’s Tree of the Year | Rakau o te tau survey.

Stay warm and have fun with your students being data detectives!

Nga mihi nui
Rachel, Anne, Pip, and Chris

Nau mai, hoki mai! Welcome back! 

We hope the summer break has left you refreshed and ready to explore data wherever you and your students live around the motu.

There are a lot of changes with the curriculum refresh, numeracy, and NCEA assessment. Below are events to keep up to speed with developments.

Upcoming events

NCEA Level 1 Workshops: February 14 onwards
These online weekly support workshops will be led by NCEA Implementation Facilitators and regional subject associations.

World Wildlife Day: March 3
“Bringing nature into the classroom can kindle a fascination and passion for the diversity of life on earth and can motivate a sense of responsibility to safeguard it.” – Sir David Attenborough
See the Department of Conservation’s motivational Meet the Locals videos.

Boosting Data Fluency project
Explore the wide range of curated datasets and dynamic data visualisations from WestEd and CODAP. Suitable for Year 7 classes and up.

CensusAtSchool Survey
Remember the CensusAtSchool biennial survey is open until the end of 2024! Make a plan for your class to take part.

Statistics Teachers’ Day Numeracy Resources
Julie Park and Tom Lin from Epsom Girls’ Grammar School presented a numeracy workshop for junior classes. See their resources.

University courses for high-achieving students
Have your students been involved in accelerated courses at school and/or passed Level 3 calculus credits in year 12? Is their ability in mathematics or statistics such that they would like an enrichment course while concurrently doing year 13 work?

There is a range of offerings from Universities around the motu, you do not have to be in the region to participate:

• University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha: Advancing in Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)
• University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau: Young Scholars course in Statistics
• University of Auckland | Waipapa Taumata Rau: Mathematical Acceleration and eXtension – MAX
• Te Kunenga Ki Pūrehuroa | Massey University: Accelerate+ programme
• Waikato University | Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato: Unistart

Interested in learning R?

• R is downloaded for free from cran.r-project.org.
• rstudio.com has a helpful interface to execute code.
• Check out these helpful R tutorials for beginners.

Enjoy the rest of the summer at school!

Nga mihi nui
Rachel, Anne, Pip, and Chris

In the latest CensusAtSchool survey, 39,000 students weighed in on the contentious debate: does pineapple belong on pizza? The results are in, showcasing a tight divide among Kiwi youth. While 47% advocate for its inclusion, 41% reject the idea of the South American fruit on top of their pizza. Surprisingly, 12% remained undecided.

According to Wikipedia, a Greek Canadian restauranter, Sam Panopoulos, inspired by the sweet-sour flavours of Chinese cuisine, added the first pineapple to a pizza just over 60 years ago and called it the Hawaiian pizza. The name “Hawaiian” surprisingly didn’t stem from the U.S. state but rather from the canned pineapple brand used at the time. Initially met with skepticism and slow adoption, this unconventional topping took time to win over pizza enthusiasts to become one of the most popular.

These statistics come from CensusAtSchool TataurangaKiTeKura, a non-profit online educational project that brings statistics to life in English and Māori-medium classrooms. Supervised by teachers, students anonymously answer questions in English, te reo Māori, Lea Faka Tonga, Gagana Samoa, Kūki ‘Airani Māori, or Vosa Vakaviti. The project is run by the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Stats NZ.

The eleventh biennial edition of CensusAtSchool was launched last year and will continue until the end of this year. See the questions, which schools are taking part, and a live dashboard on CensusAtSchool’s website: www.censusatschool.org.nz.

Thanks to Attila Kiss for sending these photos of his class taking part in CensusAtSchool!

Kia ora tātou,

The end of the school year is approaching fast, and we hope you are enjoying the warmer weather with your students.

Over 38,500 students have taken part in CensusAtSchool this year! Wow!

We love seeing photos that teachers in kura and schools have sent in. Thank you so much for sharing these great action pics.

Photos from: Hay Park School, Tahuna School, Napier Girls’ High School, Marian Catholic School

We hope you enjoyed thinking about the standing jump data, which is a new question designed to allow comparison between groups – those that had a target and those that did not.

Because we’re all about data, it’s interesting that the top three participating senior schools are in the South Island, while the top three primary and intermediate schools are in the North Island!

We wonder what year levels your school plans to do the census and why, and do some students do it more than once, and if so why? We’re reviewing your survey feedback for our end of year report.

Thanks for taking the time to tell us about your survey experiences. This will help make things better for future surveys.

Coming Up

DECEMBER 4

Statistics Teachers’ Day Illuminating Data Pathways

Hurry – Register Now! 

Packed with presenters from around the motu sharing what’s going on in their classrooms, work, and research as they explore the world and develop their ideas and understanding with data. Plus: Our new data detective classroom posters will be given out on the day!

NOVEMBER 29

Online Colloquium on Artificial Intelligence and Data Science Education at School Level

Learn more and register 

Free for all, held via Zoom.

Seen Elsewhere

Some A.I. entertainment: “Walking Backwards into the Future”

Chris Wild’s keynote address, which opened the IASE 2023 conference, is packed with AI-generated images and music, examines drivers and priorities for statistics and data science education and its students in the light of recent data trends including the rise of generative A.I.

Youcubed Classroom Data Talks

Great ideas here.

CODAP – Common Online Data Analysis Platform

Free online software for exploring data. The datasets have activities that suggest questions that students can find out the answers to by creating data visualisations. See CODAP Examples and Data Science Games.

Objections to data science in K-12 education make no sense

Article by Freakonomics‘ author Steven Levitt looks at the argument for teaching students with the human and physical sciences data.

Winning Data Science Posters by Students

This South Australian competition has students follow their passion and collaborate to use their statistical and communication skills to answer questions. Reflect on the marking and feedback by other statistics educators to improve classroom teaching of data literacy.

Bird of the Century

A great, fun example of bias! Learn about this extraordinary bird and the extraordinary efforts that have gone into saving it. Thank you John Darby and the students at Mt Aspiring College. Kia kaha Pūteketeke!

Nga mihi nui
Rachel & Anne and Chris

Snapchat has emerged as the top app among high school students, with 61% of them reporting that they used it four or more times the day before participating in the CensusAtSchool questionnaire. TikTok closely followed with 60%. In contrast, primary school students preferred YouTube, with 59% stating they used it four or more times, followed by TikTok at 29%.

These insights come from CensusAtSchool TataurangaKiTeKura, a non-profit online educational project that brings statistics to life in English and Māori-medium classrooms. Supervised by teachers, students anonymously answer 34 questions in English or te reo Māori. The project is run by the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Stats NZ. This year, around 35,000 students from 647 schools have participated in the project so far.

Apps Used Four or More Times the Day Before

High school students (Years 9-13):

• 61% Snapchat
• 60% TikTok
• 49% Instagram
• 48% YouTube
• 18% Discord
• 17% WhatsApp
• 12% Facebook
• 11% Pinterest
• 7% BeReal
• 5% Twitter

Primary school students (Years 3-8):

• 59% YouTube
• 29% TikTok
• 22% Snapchat
• 13% Discord
• 10% Instagram
• 9% WhatsApp
• 7% Pinterest
• 4% Facebook
• 2% Twitter
• 2% BeReal

Screen Time After School

High school students said they spent a median of 3.5 hours on screens after school the day before participating in the questionnaire. A quarter of them spent 5 hours or more on screens, while only 1.6% said they spent no time on screens after school that day.

Primary school students said they spent a median of 2 hours on screens after school the day before taking part, and a quarter of them spent 4 hours or more on screens. Additionally, 7.8% of the participants reported not spending any time on screens after school that day.

Co-director of CensusAtSchool Annel Patel says, “Screen time is a big issue in our home and my 8 and 10-year-old daughters don’t even have phones yet! We use tech to monitor their screen time, enforcing a daily two-hour limit and only allowing access to YouTube Kids. I’m mindful that my own screen habits set an example for my daughters’ healthy expectations.”

Online Blocking

Online blocking is also prevalent among high school students, with 33% stating that they had blocked someone online in the past week. This behaviour was more common with the younger high school students and females.

The CensusAtSchool team is collaborating with Tūturu – a modern approach to student wellbeing – to create a resource that helps students analyse and explore the CensusAtSchool data.

Annabel Prescott, Learning & Development Director for Tūturu at the NZ Drug Foundation, commented on the high percentage of students saying they had blocked someone within the past week. “Young people use blocking as a strategy to manage relationships and set boundaries. This is perceived by young people as very normal behaviour, and quite different from how adults engage with social media”.

“We are excited to be working with CensusAtSchool and health and education experts to develop a teaching resource that will help students explore data, what it means to them, their peers, and their wellbeing; and consider what health-promoting actions can be taken to help students navigate a digital world”.

The eleventh biennial edition of CensusAtSchool was launched on February 13 and will continue until the end of 2024. See the questions, which schools are taking part, and a live dashboard on CensusAtSchool’s website: www.censusatschool.org.nz.

Thanks to Uane Davidson of Hay Park School for sharing these photos of students taking part in CensusAtSchool.

Tēnā koutou katoa

Welcome back! We hope you are feeling refreshed and ready for Term 3. A big thank you to all teachers and students who have taken part in the 2023 survey.

Over 33,800 students have taken part so far! We are set to have our biggest CensusAtSchool ever! It’s not too late to take part.

What’s New

Our Data Detective Posters are now available in six languages (English, Te Reo Māori, Te Reo Kūki ‘Āirani, Lea Faka-Tonga, Gagana Sāmoa, Vosa Vakaviti), and two styles!

Coming Up

August 7-11
Maths Week/Pāngarau Wiki- registrations are open.
FAQ

Can’t remember if you have registered or not?
Check by entering your email here. If your email doesn’t come up, register here. It’s never too late to register and take part.

Need your registration code?
Get it again here

Need your class data download link?
Get it again here

Unsure when you can take part?
Any time during school hours. The survey is open all year. 

Need help preparing?
Please ensure that you have read the essential Teacher’s Guide. All the equipment needed to take part successfully with your students is included in it.

Want to take part over multiple days?
You can divide the activity into two sessions. Use the first session to take the measurements and fill in your data cards. Use the second session to fill in the survey online. The survey itself needs to be completed in one sitting by a student. However, different students from your class can fill it in on different days, for example if you have limited devices or some students are away.

Have another question?
Reply to this email and we’ll get right back to you! Or you can call Rachel Cunliffe on (027) 383-3746.

censusatschool.org.nz
Ngā mihi nui,

Rachel, Anne, Pip, and Chris