News

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!

3 things to do right now (will only take a few minutes):

1. Register yourself
   Even if you have registered before, you must re-register for the 2015 census
2. Preview the questions: English / Te Reo
3. 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

http://wikinewzealand.org/

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

Middle Leaders Website
Mathematics resources

Kia orana Pangarau te Whanau

iNZight

If you have a little spare playtime have a look at the online version of iNZight under development at:
https://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~wild/iNZight/online.html

NZQA

The October 2014 newsletter has been published at:

http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/qualifications/ncea/subjects/mathematics/moderator-s-newsletter/october-2014/

Investing in Educational Success (IES)

There is an article in the 28th October Gazette on IES. The process for this component is, teachers put in a project concept first which must involve at least 3 teachers, then they put in their proposal. A panel will decide who gets approved.

http://www.education.govt.nz/ministry-of-education/specific-initiatives/investing-in-educational-success/

IEB Programme

New inclusive education resources on-line: Teachers and Teachers Aides, Who does what? Supporting students who are blind, deaf/blind or have low vision.

http://www.inclusive.org.nz/

Statistics Education day at NZSA+ORSNZ conference; Wedn 26 Nov

Plans for the Statistics Education day at the NZSA+ORSNZ conference, Wednesday 26 Nov, have progressed rapidly, are finalised nicely, and are on the conference website. Please see https://secure.orsnz.org.nz/conf48/ and the green buttons at top left. The 7^th one is ours: ‘Statistical Education Session’.

The conference organisers welcome registrations for the day. Teachers could arrive for the 9 am sessions (and choose which one they go to), the 11AM plenary, or the1PM Statistics Education presentations. We’ll be finished by 4.40 pm.

Full details are on the Statistics Education page: the themes, the titles and abstracts for the 10 presentations, and the process for registering with the $40 fee. The title and abstract for Alan Brookhart’s plenary are in the Programme page.

STUDYIT is now at full steam

http://www.studyit.org.nz/communicate/viewtopic.php?p=246681#246681 for some Time Series data on the website use.

Study and exam advice

Study advice
Helps you plan your study, set goals and study routines and, most importantly, to relax and not stress. You can also download your own weekly study planner.

Examination advice
Gives ideas on how to prepare for exams, and has tips for making the most of what you know.

Make the most of Studyit
Shows how to find revision materials for English, mathematics, and sciences.

General revision sites
Useful sites that have revision notes for most subjects.

Examples:

Revision basics
Study skills for students
Revision tips
Study guides and strategies
Basic steps in the research process
The Pulse – Learning styles
VARK – A guide to learning styles
How-to-study.com
Maths study strategies
Maths study skills self-survey
Making an oral presentation
Answering assignment questions

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

Middle Leaders Website

W:http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Secondary-middle-leaders/Professional-learning-and-development

Mathematics resources

W: https://sites.google.com/site/mathstatsfacilitators/home

It’s not to late to join Chris Wild’s Data to Insight: An Introduction to Data Analysis MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses)

Kia orana all,

Not long before the seniors leave for external achievement examinations study!

1: L1 Internal exemplars updated on NZQA
These have been posted, except for 91033….not sure why the latter is not there yet.
http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/qualifications/ncea/subjects/mathematics/exemplars/

2: Scholarships for tertiary studies
http://www.futureintech.org.nz/scholarships.cfm
Grouped the scholarships in three categories:
Company-funded – scholarships from DairyNZ, Fulton Hogan, Hubbards, New Zealand Steel, Orion Health, Plant & Food Research, Rakon, Scion, Transpower, Transfield Worley, Westland Milk Products.
Other organisations – Royal Society of New Zealand, EPECentre, Zonta International, Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ), Australasian Hydrographic Society, NZ Institute of Surveyors, Edna Waddell Scholarships for Women in Technology & Engineering.
Māori + Pasifika – scholarships specifically for Māori and Pasifika students offered by trusts, iwi and other organisations.
other support:
Tertiary providers – polytechnics, institutes of technology and universities – are another good source of information, and generally have a Scholarships Office that can help you look for financial support for your studies:
University Scholarships Offices
Polytechnic and Institute of Technology Scholarships Offices
See also:
Cadetships – find out how you can complete a diploma or degree in engineering, surveying, CAD draughting or IT while working in industry.
Course Finder – use our database of tertiary-level technology, engineering and science courses to explore what and where to study.
BreakOut is the website with the most comprehensive lists of awards, scholarships and grants. To read it online you have to pay a subscription but paper copies are held at most libraries and citizens advice bureaus (CAB) around the country.
StudyLink – information about student loans and allowances.

3: WMA November events
November has lots of treasures in store.
Friday 14th HOD Day at Gear Homestead  9.00 – 3.00   $40 Registration_forms_2014 HOD Day

Thurs 20th PRT Day at The Dowse  9.00 – 3.00   Free  SignupsheetforVUWgraduatesPRTDay

Wed 26th   Ed day at NZSA conference VUW  1.00 – 4.00  $40  NZSA Conference Stat Education and Applications invite

Thurs 27th Maths & Stats teacher day at VUW  9.00 – 3.00  Free MathsStatsTeacherDayProgramme (1)

Note that the MMP day pencilled in for 1 November has been cancelled.
WMA contact: Bruce Welsh maths@welsh.co.nz

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
Middle Leaders Website
W: http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Secondary-middle-leaders/Professional-learning-and-development
Mathematics resources
W: https://sites.google.com/site/mathstatsfacilitators/home