The principles of sampling applied to science
In the Biology GCSE, students will need to consider sampling in the context health, disease and the development of medicines. They will need to understand that the greater sample size, the more reliable the outcomes of a clinical trial, and should explore the impact of unusual outcomes on a small sample size.
Any form of sampling needs to reflect the characteristics of the population and provide data that will inform the question being investigated or it is not fit for purpose.
Although this can be challenging students often have a clear sense of fairness. Present students with scientific findings that have been generated using a range of sampling techniques and encourage them to evaluate each example. Try to include examples of poor sampling strategies and explore how sampling may have been used to generate data used in the media.
Ecological Survey
This resource is aimed at A level, however some of the ideas and thinking are relevant to Triple Science and accessible to students. The pack describes a series of investigations to measure the distribution of plants and animals on a site and includes a range of sampling techniques and the measurement of abiotic factors such as soil conditions, temperature and light intensity.
Some of these could be carried out on school grounds or on a field trip of some kind.
Well-Being Index
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mso-fareast-language:EN-US">The Well-Being Index measures Americans' perceptions of their lives based on five interrelated factors that make up well-being. These are sense of purpose, social relationships, financial security, relationship to community, and physical health.
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mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">This link describes the sampling methodology used by Gallop and could be used a a way of generating discussion around sampling strategies
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Gapminder
Some students may not understand the purpose of sampling. Often the data sets they have met are small and sanitised to make the mathematics easier. If this is the case share examples where the population is very large to explain why sampling is necessary. Choose simple characteristics of the population such as gender to help explain the need to match the sample to the population a whole. To reinforce the complexity of collecting useful data in reality this link can be used to generate some very large data sets that students can try to make sense of. .
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