Statistics in Your World - Level 1

This resource from the Royal Statistical Society Centre for Statistical Education (RSSCSE) consists of the level 1 units. For each unit there are comprehensive notes giving an overview of the unit, the aims and objectives for that unit, and prior learning or prerequisites and the equipment required.

• Being Fair To Ernie: Starting with the idea of fairness, this unit develops a method of random sampling using random numbers, which is then applied to the selection process behind premium bonds. The premium bond situation is modelled by a simple simulation game, Ernie, in which some associated flaws and fallacies are studied.
• Leisure For Pleasure: This unit investigates broadly how students spend their leisure time. On completion of this unit students should be able to fill in tally charts, interpret simple statistical tables and to draw and interpret pie charts and bar charts for categorical data.
• Tidy Tables: This unit introduces students to statistical tables, explaining how to compose, read and clarify them. Data considered deals with domestic fires, leisure activities, road accidents and employment. The aim of this unit is to help students understand and read information which is laid out in tabular form.
• Wheels And Meals: This unit provides a framework and rationale for collecting data from members of the class. Students are given the opportunity to collate the collected data into univariate and bivariate tables and display it as pictograms, bar charts and scattergrams.
• Shaking A Six: This unit introduces some elementary ideas of probability through throwing dice. Contact with games such as Ludo and snakes and ladders leads some students to think that throwing a six is harder than throwing any other single number. Results from ordinary dice are compared with results from biased dice.
• Practice Makes Perfect: The general theme of this unit is to see if one can improve on certain tasks with practice. The comparison uses simple statistical techniques, and discussions help lay an intuitive feel for the sort of conclusion that can be drawn. On completion of this unit students should be able to calculate a simple range, find a mode and draw a scattergram.
• Probability games: Basic ideas of probability are introduced through games using dice and coins. The main part of the unit concludes by encouraging students to compare relatively complicated probabilities without detailed calculations. There is a final optional section on colouring shapes which introduces basic ideas of permutations.
• If At First...: The central theme is that of using simulation to model real-life situations. Students often collect sets of cards; the first simulation investigates how long it would take to collect a set of four. Other simulations use dice and random numbers to model booking seats on a minibus, finding the right key for a door and being stopped at traffic lights.

• Statistics in Your World - Level 1 Interactive Resource