Champions wanted to expand program
Rebecca Nichols, ASA Director of Education
In 2010, with the support of the ASA and Population Association of America, former ASA Director of Education Martha Aliaga and other ASA staff members worked with prominent statisticians and statistics educators to launch the U.S. version of Census at School—a free, international classroom project that engages students in grades 4–12 in statistical problemsolving using their own real data. The Census at School project began in the United Kingdom in 2000 and now includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Japan, and the United States.
The ASA is building upon the success of the UK and other countries in using Census at School to enhance statistical problemsolving and interdisciplinary studies using real data of interest to students. Through Census at School, grade 4–12 teachers can enhance their statistics knowledge to better teach the increased statistics content in the Common Core State Standards.
Under the direction of their teachers, students involved in the program anonymously complete an online survey, analyze their class census results, and then compare those results with results from random samples of participating students throughout the world. Teachers guide students to apply the concepts in the GAISE pre-K–12 report and the Common Core State Standards by exploring problems that require them to formulate questions of interest that can be answered with the Census at School data, collect/select and analyze the data, and make appropriate conclusions in context. Students are engaged in the statistical problemsolving process with real data of interest to them about themselves and their peers.
The online survey includes 13 questions common to children in every participating country and a few questions specific to children in each country. All questions lead to a variety of categorical and quantitative responses. The common questions include those related to measurement—length (height, arm span, foot length), travel time to school, reaction time to an online applet, time to complete an online memory test—and category—favorite sport or activity. The U.S. questionnaire has additional questions about text messaging, hours of sleep, technology usage, future plans, allergies, and preferences (e.g., foods, music, school subject, super power). The entire questionnaire is available at the U.S. Census at School website.
U.S. Census at School began in 2010 as a pilot program with middle- and high-school teachers in Washington, DC. The teachers met for a series of full-day training sessions on Saturdays at the ASA office, which included instruction in statistics in context of Census at School and how to implement the Census at School program in the classroom. ASA staff observed the teachers presenting the material to their students in the classroom and their students engaging in statistical investigations in context of their own Census at School data. Participants in the pilot program helped develop the U.S. questionnaire and refine the materials and website before making the program available. As of December 2011, there were approximately 6,000 students from 37 states who had participated in the project.
Teachers can extract the data submitted by their own students and obtain a random sample of data from other students in the United States through the online U.S. random sampler or from other countries participating in Census at School through the online international random sampler. Both the U.S. Census at School random sampler and the international Census at School random sampler are linked from the U.S. Census at School homepage.
Teachers who are comfortable with statistical problemsolving and data analysis can begin using the program in their classes at any time. There are detailed instructions, five instructional webinars, a PowerPoint presentation, and other resources on the website.
Getting Involved
The ASA is seeking champions to expand the U.S. Census at School program. Champions can be teachers who use the program in their classes or statisticians and statistics educators who assist teachers who are not yet comfortable with statistics and statistical problemsolving. There are a variety of ways to get involved, including sharing information about the program with local schools, writing lesson plans, and teaching local workshops for teachers. For those interested in teaching local workshops, the ASA will provide materials.
The ASA also is building online Census at School resources and seeking those interested in writing new U.S. Census at School lesson plans or adapting international Census at School lesson plans for U.S. data. Those teaching grades 4–12 pre-service teachers might consider encouraging them to create lesson plans using U.S. Census at School data and submit them to the STatistics Education Web (STEW), an online bank of peer-reviewed lesson plans for K–12 teachers. STEW lesson plans relating to Census at School will be published on the Census at School website in the resources area.
The new editor of Statistics Education Web (STEW), Mary Richardson of Grand Valley State University, is accepting submissions of lesson plans for an online bank of peer-reviewed lesson plans for K–12 teachers of mathematics and science. Lesson plans will showcase the use of statistical methods and ideas in science and mathematics based on the framework and levels in the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education(GAISE) Report: A Pre-K–12 Curriculum Framework.Consider submitting several of your favorite lesson plans according to the STEW template to steweditor@amstat.org.
Educators teaching or advising undergraduate or graduate statistics students might consider encouraging or requiring them to get involved in service learning by working with grades 4–12 teachers and students to incorporate Census at School and enhance their statistical problemsolving skills.
Other ideas to enhance and expand the program are welcome. Contact Rebecca Nichols, ASA director of education, at rebecca@amstat.org about these or any efforts regarding service learning or other activities.
On the Horizon
There will be an international Census at School workshop held after the 2012 Joint Statistical Meetings in San Diego, California, on August 2 and 3. The two-day meeting will provide an opportunity for international Census at School leaders and U.S. Census at School champions to coordinate the international Census at School project, share hands-on curriculum materials, achieve common understanding of the international project, acquire experience with country-specific data-handing activities and resources for teachers and students, and increase awareness of international efforts to improve statistical literacy in school children.
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