Here’s some beautiful photos of tamariki in Room 2 at Strathmore School taking part in CensusAtSchool 2015:
Thanks to Whaea Rachel Rawiri for sending these in!
Singer and The X-Factor New Zealand judge Stan Walker is Kiwi kids’ favourite local celebrity by far, according to the first insights to emerge from CensusAtSchool/TataurangaKiTeKura, the only national survey of what schoolchildren are thinking, feeling and doing.
Walker, 24, who shot to fame after winning Australian Idol in 2009, was way ahead of any other local celebrities after day three of CensusAtSchool/TataurangaKiTeKura, a long-running, online educational project that brings statistics to life in the classroom. Supervised by teachers, students aged between 9 and 18 (Year 5 to Year 13) answer 35 questions in English or te reo Māori about their lives, then analyse the results in class.
CensusAtSchool/TataurangaKiTeKura was launched on Monday morning, and by 5pm on Wednesday, more than 2,500 students had taken part.
Among the questions they answered was “Who is your favourite New Zealand celebrity?”, and they could name anyone. Many said they didn’t have a particular favourite, but among those who did, Walker, of Tūhoe and Ngāti Tūwharetoa, picked up 25% of the votes. Second was Auckland singer Lorde, 18, whose 2013 debut single, Royals, was an international hit. She got 21% of the vote.
CensusAtSchool/TataurangaKiTeKura co-director Rachel Cunliffe, an online communications and youth culture specialist, says that Stan Walker’s talent, coupled with his sincerity and positive nature, makes him very appealing to children and young people. “Stan Walker rose above a really rough childhood, and that’s inspirational. He’s also a role model – he was campaigning against bullying long before it became a huge issue on The X Factor New Zealand this week.”
Rachel Cunliffe says that Lorde’s appeal lies not only in her music, but in her refusal to be anything other than herself. “She’s a positive, strong, empowering personality.”
More than 1,700 teachers from 834 schools all over New Zealand have registered for CensusAtSchool, which started on Monday, March 16 and runs until May 29. (Click here to see which of your local schools are taking part).
CensusAtSchool, now in its seventh edition, is a collaborative project involving teachers and the University of Auckland’s Department of Statistics, with support from Statistics New Zealand and the Ministry of Education. It is part of an international effort to boost statistical capability among young people, and is carried out in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the US, Japan and South Africa. The countries share some questions so comparisons can be made, but the majority reflect New Zealand students’ interests.
Watch this video featuring Sue Hodge from Elm Park school in Pakuranga and Julie Middleton from the CensusAtSchool team on Te Kāea, Māori Television’s news show, on March 17.
The Ministry of Education and Statistics NZ are encouraging teachers to sign up to CensusAtSchool, an online statistics project that turns students into “data detectives”.
Students aged 9 to 18 (Year 5 to Year 13) use a variety of digital devices to answer 35 online questions in English or te reo Māori about their lives and opinions.
Students answer questions such as: Where did you eat your dinner last night? Is bullying among students a problem at your school? About how many txt messages did you send yesterday? Which two teams will contest the Rugby World Cup final? They are also asked to carry out activities such as weighing their schoolbag.
Ministry of Education Deputy Secretary for Student Achievement Dr Graham Stoop says more than 1600 teachers from over 800 schools are taking part in CensusAtSchool in their maths and statistics classes from March 16 until May 29. The data will then be released for classroom analysis.
“Students love becoming ‘data detectives’. This is a fun and engaging way for them to learn about the relevance of statistics to everyday life. CensusAtSchool is linked to the national statistics curriculum, so we encourage teachers in primary and secondary schools to take part,” says Dr Stoop.
The project is run every two years by the University of Auckland’s Department of Statistics, with support from Statistics NZ and the Ministry of Education.
Statistics NZ’s education manager Andrew Tideswell says statistical literacy is essential in a data-driven world. “Students with strong statistical skills are not only in demand in the workplace, they’re in a position to make informed decisions about the data around them every day.”
New Zealand schoolchildren will share their thoughts on bullying in a nationwide survey that launches this week.
CensusAtSchool/TataraungaKiTeKura is a long-running, online educational project that brings statistics to life in the classroom. Supervised by teachers, students aged between 9 and 18 (Year 5 to Year 13) answer 35 questions in English or te reo Māori about their lives, then analyse the results in class.
Already, more than 1618 teachers from 808 schools all over New Zealand have registered for CensusAtSchool, which runs from March 16 to May 29. (Click here to see which of your local schools are taking part).
For the first time, children will be asked for their opinions on bullying. CensusAtSchool co-director Rachel Cunliffe says the questions were developed in response to calls for greater discussion of the issue, which has been identified as a major problem in New Zealand.
“Bullying of any type – whether its verbal bullying or cyber-bullying – can have a huge and negative impact on children’s learning,” she says. “And as statistics is about recording what happens in real life, we have an opportunity to hear what children really think about the problem and, hopefully, encourage greater discussion of bullying.”
The bullying questions are as follows: Is bullying among students a problem at your school? When did you first personally experience or become aware of bullying behaviour? Who do you think are cyberbullies? How old do you think cyberbullies are?
Other questions in the survey this year ask students to undertake practical activities such as weighing their schoolbag, and paint a picture of their lifestyle through questions such as: Where did you eat your dinner last night? About how many txt messages did you send yesterday?
CensusAtSchool, now in its seventh edition, is a collaborative project involving teachers and the University of Auckland’s Department of Statistics, with support from StatisticsNZ and the Ministry of Education. It is part of an international effort to boost statistical capability among young people, and is carried out in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the US, Japan and South Africa. The countries share some questions so comparisons can be made, but the majority reflect New Zealand students’ interests.
Notes to media
Contact CensusAtSchool co-director Rachel Cunliffe at censusatschoolnz@gmail.com or phone 027 3833 746. For more information on CensusAtSchool New Zealand 2015, visit http://www.censusatschool.org.nz. To find out which of your local schools are participating, click here. To see the questions, click here.
About CensusAtSchool co-director Rachel Cunliffe
Rachel holds a BSc (Hons) in Statistics from the University of Auckland and co-directs CAS with Professor Chris Wild of the Department of Statistics at The University of Auckland. Rachel owns web company cre8d design and speaks about online communications and youth culture. To download a free high-resolution picture of Rachel, click here.
Kia ora koutou,
As many of you will know, the CAS/TataurangaKiTeKura questionnaire is available in te reo Māori so children in bilingual and immersion units can make the most of it.
What you may not know is that we are working on adapting and translating our existing English-language resources for the reo-Māori classroom to ensure that we are as relevant as possible to as many classrooms as possible. We have already completed several and you will find them if you use “te reo Māori” as a search phrase.
We have also produced a bilingual leaflet – in English on one side and Māori on the other – about the benefits of CAS, and it will be given out at meetings of kaiako pāngarau (maths teachers) at various hui over the next few months. The leaflet is here – feel free to make use of it. Tēnā rawa atu koutou!
Is there a teacher whose resources you have used or have helped you clarify your teaching that you would like to Nominate?
Nominations forms for this award are in the 23rd February Education Gazette and on the NZAMT website: http://www.nzamt.org.nz/ and http://www.nzamt.org.nz/nzamt-
Nominations close 2nd April. The awards will be presented at the NZAMT15 conference held in Auckland in July.
3 things to do right now (will only take a few minutes):
- Register yourself
Even if you have registered before, you must re-register for the 2015 census - Preview the questions: English / Te Reo
- Get the teachers pack
The teachers pack is very important this year as there are new questions about bullying. Students need to be given accurate information and support to answer these.
Sharleen Forbe’s history paper ‘The coming of age of statistics education in New Zealand, and its influence internationally‘ has just been published in the Journal of Statistics Education.
Morena
Some information regarding the next few weeks.
The Statistical Education day at the NZ Statistical Association conference on Wednesday 26 November: cutoff for registrations on Thurdsay 20 November
The conference organisers invite teachers to attend this day. Details are on the conference website. At upper left, see 7th green button.
Advertisement for the Bevan Werry Speaker
I have now been a Bevan Werry speaker for one year, and in that capacity I have been visiting mathematics associations around the country, talking to teachers and students of mathematics. I have been engaged in mathematics outreach activities in Wellington for a number of years, and the Bevan Werry speakership has let me present some of those activities to a larger audience. The general theme of the exercises is to expose students to profound ideas from modern mathematics that don’t play a part in NCEA assessment. So I have played combinatorial games with students in Christchurch, tied students into knots in Greymouth, and set students in Palmerston North on a search for a ‘busy beaver’ function.
If you would like to discuss a visit to your school or association, please contact me at dillon.mayhew@vuw.ac.nz
NZ data website – Wiki New Zealand
Gathering all our data in one place and making it visual
WMA
Thursday 27th Maths and Stats teachers day investigating the link between schools and university through level 3 standards. A link to that website is here http://msor.victoria.ac.nz/Events/TeacherDay/WebHomeThursday 11th December. The Royal Society presents “The Art of Mathematics” with Prof Marcus Du Sautoy. See below for details.
http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/events/annual/distinguished-speaker/2014-distinguished-speaker-the-art-of-mathematics/
Kia pai to rā
Derek
Mathematics National Co-ordinator/Central South Facilitator (Secondary).
Education Support Services
University of Otago College of Education
PO Box 56 Dunedin 9054
Mau ki te ako-Te Tapuae o Rehua Consortium
M: 021 913 150
E: derek.smith@otago.ac.nz
