Measures of Centre and Spread
This Making Statistics Vital resource consists of a number of independent activities, covering many aspects of this area of statistics. Students have practical opportunities to explore and develop further their knowledge and understanding of statistical measures and their application. The barchart - challenges students to analyse…
Sustainability
From the Learning Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), this case study describes how Hull and Stockton Riverside Colleges used the topic of sustainable development to improve aspects of STEM careers guidance. Hull College The project encouraged a greater holistic awareness in lecturers of the diverse skills and technologies essential…
STEM Careers Information, Advice and Guidance
Produced by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), this document describes a project to improve STEM careers information, advice and guidance in the Post-16 sector. Detailed case studies from this project can be seen in the corresponding collection Progression Through STEM. The case studies describe work done by…
Employer Engagement: Teaching and Learning
From the Learning Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), this document summarises their Exploring Improvements in Teaching and Learning Through Employer Engagement project. It looked at developing links between institutions and employers in the Post-16 sector. The outcomes of the project can be seen in the series of case studies that…
Harnessing Technology: Teaching and Learning
Produced by the Learning Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), this document describes the background and key learning points from the Harnessing Technology project. This resulted in a series of case studies that illustrate the use of technology to advance teaching and learning in the Post-16 sector. This document briefly describes…
Parking Permits
In this activity from the Nuffield Foundation, which uses a scenario of parking permits at a college to introduce the topic, students learn about collecting data by stratified sampling and designing a questionnaire. A full review of relevant statistical terms is provided, together with instructions of how to select a representative…
Runaway Train
In this activity from the Nuffield Foundation, students carry out an experiment to collect data about a trolley rolling down a slope. They then use this data to simulate the motion of a train by fitting a quadratic curve to their data, using a graphic calculator or spreadsheet. The slideshow provides an introduction to the activity…
Chinese Postman Problems
In this activity from the Nuffield Foundation students use the Chinese postman algorithm, also called the Route Inspection Problem, to solve practical problems. The College Open Day problem provides an introduction to the concept, and asks students to investigate the minimum distance someone would have to travel to deliver leaflets…
Anthropometric Data
This resource from the Nuffield Foundation allows students to investigate relationships between anthropometric variables and write a report on their findings, which may include the use of scatter diagrams, lines of best fit, regression lines, and correlation coefficients. The spreadsheet contains anthropometric data from a sample…
Ozone Hole
The Nuffield Foundation provides this activity where students suggest types of function to model ozone hole data, before using a graphic calculator or spreadsheet to find at least two particular models. They then consider how well their functions model the data and what they predict for the future. The slideshow includes web…
Gas Guzzlers
The Nuffield Foundation provide this activity which uses graphical methods to find a suitable model to connect two sets of data. There are a variety of ways in which the data could be used, depending on the focus required. It is possible to use a log graph to find an exponential model, which is the intended focus of this activity,…
Sports Injuries
The Nuffield Foundation provide this activity for students to consider the difficulties in using real data, from the Department of Trade and Industry, to identify which sport is the most dangerous to participate in. The data includes the age and gender of patients requiring treatment at a sample of hospitals after suffering sports…
Five a Day
The Nuffield Foundation provide this resource for students to collect data and then use statistical methods to analyse the results. The activities require that students investigate the extent to which people follow the advice from the Department of Health, which recommends that everyone eats at least five portions of fruit and vegetables…
Suncatchers
This activity enables students to consolidate their knowledge of the properties of two dimensional shapes by working with a variety of stained glass designs. The activity is based on a real life context and designed to aid class discussion about 2D shapes and symmetry. The images in the slideshow can be used to encourage students…
Spreadsheet Graphs
The Nuffield Foundation provide this resource which can be used to introduce the shape and main features of proportional, linear, inverse proportional, and quadratic graphs. Different versions of Excel spreadsheets allow students to explore how the shape and the position of a graph changes when the constants in its equation are altered. Students…
Outdoor Gig
This resource from the Nuffield Foundation provides weather data that students use to consider which month would be the best to hold an outdoor gig. The activity gives students practice in using either a calculator or a spreadsheet to calculate mean and range values. Outdoor Gig A for use with calculators - the student information…
House Prices Moving Averages
This activity from the Nuffield Foundation introduces the use of moving averages and weighted moving averages to smooth out seasonal fluctuations in UK house prices, enabling the yearly trend to be identified. The data provided is adapted from The Halifax House Price Index spreadsheet and although the arithmetic required to complete…
Successful HE Students
The Nuffield Foundation provide this resource which enables students to carry out significance tests on proportions and test hypotheses about successful applicants to higher education. The data provided on information sheet A is simulated but similar to real data available on the UCAS website. Information sheet B outlines…
Model the Motion
In this activity from the Nuffield Foundation, students match descriptions of a variety of real scenarios involving motion with the corresponding velocity–time and displacement–time graphs. Several issues will be discussed while completing this task and students will also have to consider how realistic or unrealistic…
Stature
The Nuffield Foundation provide this resource where students use simulated stature data for men and women in eight countries to draw histograms and look for general results, as manufacturers need to take these into account when they design products. This is mainly intended as an introduction to the normal distribution, but the…
Coastal Erosion
The Nuffield Foundation provides this resource which shows students how, given a set of measurements along an irregular coastline, it is possible to approximate the area of land which is lost to coastal erosion over a period of time. Coastal erosion A - this activity uses the context of coastal erosion to introduce the trapezium…
Climate Prediction
The Nuffield Foundation provides this activity which students use to create spreadsheets that model what would happen to the temperature of the Earth if there were to be a sudden change in the amount of radiation entering or leaving the planet. Students then investigate polynomial and exponential functions to find the best model. Before…
Pay Rates for Men and Women
The Nuffield Foundation provide this resource where students are shown how to draw and format cumulative frequency graphs in Excel, showing the hourly earnings of men and women, and then interpret their graphs. Students need to know how to draw cumulative frequency graphs by hand before attempting to draw them using a spreadsheet. There…
Modelling a Test Drive
This resource from the Nuffield Foundation provides the opportunity for students to fit functions to linear and quadratic graphs. It is assumed that students will already have some knowledge of linear and quadratic functions and their graphs, which are used to compare models and comment on their suitability. A slide show is included,…
Matching Graphs and Scenarios
This resource from the Nuffield Foundation provides a set of 24 cards which students use to match graphs with descriptions of the real situations they represent. The slideshow includes the same graphs with added titles and labels. This can be used in a class discussion about the shapes of the graphs, the variables and units that…
Perimeter and Area
The Nuffield Foundation provides this resource which reviews the perimeter and area of rectangles and shapes made from rectangles. The activity can be introduced by viewing the slideshow and a student information sheet, which contains the main points is also provided. The activity cards allow students to consolidate their knowledge…
Will It or Won't It?
This Study Plus unit from the National Strategies aims to develop students’ understanding of angle properties in shapes. It begins with the idea of tiling a floor and which shapes will tessellate. After an initial emphasis on discovering angle facts from regular polygons, the unit moves on to using angle facts to predict…
Fractals
This National Strategies Study Plus unit has been designed to cover a number of areas of mathematics, particularly work with number and algebra. It also addresses a range of learning styles along with links to literacy and ICT through the use of spreadsheets. Using the topic of fractals, studnets explore the patterns and sequences…
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
In this Study Plus unit from the National Strategies, using the subject of global warming, students look at and analyse data to answer the question ‘Is there global warming in the world?’. In the module students are expected to analyse the data through drawing charts and diagrams and then interpreting the charts. Students…
Disaster Relief
This Study Plus unit from the National Strategies asks students to plan the relief aid for a fictitious tsunami along the South American Pacific coast. The project is centred on Concepción, Chile’s second largest urban conurbation. This was the scene of an actual tsunami in 1960, after an earthquake off the Chilean coast. A…
Stop the Press
This Study Plus unit from the National Strategies, takes a practical example of costing advertising space in a newspaper and involves the use of spreadsheets to assist in calculating and re-calculating costs. It aims to develop students' awareness of the need for algebraic formulae. Students need to understand why a formula…
Towers
This mathematical investigation from the National Strategies Study Plus collection starts with the idea of someone being locked up in a tower. The context could to be adapted so that it will appeal to the students, for example built around spies, knights of old, or TV characters. The tower shape and number of windows is varied…