This paper is from Session 2C: Statistical education at the Secondary/Higher Education interface

which comes under Topic 2: Statistics education at the school level

Other papers under session 2C ... 2C1: Approaches to extra-curricular statistics support for non-statistics... 2C2: SPoC – Statistics Poster Challenge for schools

(Thursday 15th, 11:00-12:30)

Creating a World population model to analyze the dynamics of change

Presenter

• Henry Kranendonk (Milwaukee Public Schools, United States)

Abstract

The transition from a secondary study of data analysis and statistics to a college level involves more than simply expanding a list of topics. Students’ reasoning is expected to more clearly address the questions “What if ...?” and “What is the story behind the data?” as they mature. The unit presented, “The World Population Project”, was designed for high school students as a way to explore how students answer those questions when given control of data. Students were provided authentic population data sets of the 10 largest countries. After a study of each country, students are provided opportunities to alter the dynamics of a country’s population given various scenarios. By having direct control over the data, they are provided opportunities through a model on a computer to directly answer authentic “What if ...?” questions. Their explanations to these questions provide opportunities to give students’ feedback in their transition to higher education.

Other papers under session 2C ... 2C1: Approaches to extra-curricular statistics support for non-statistics... 2C2: SPoC – Statistics Poster Challenge for schools