This pilot collection of resources is designed to introduce key statistical ideas and help students to deepen their understanding.
Introduction
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These resources are designed to introduce key statistical ideas needed for advanced study. They also give opportunities to consolidate your understanding by applying it to new and engaging contexts. Try the activities to delve into the concepts of hypothesis testing, sampling, and distributions, and explore some of the fascinating and complex issues surrounding the interpretation and representation of data. Scroll down to find articles which explain key ideas and go more deeply into the concepts.
To complement each resource, there are Teachers' Resources with suggestions for how the tasks can be used in the classroom.
Try
These resources investigate statistics concepts usually met by students aged 14-16
problem
Statistical shorts
Age
11 to 16
Challenge level
Can you decide whether these short statistical statements are always, sometimes or never true?
problem
A population survey
Age
14 to 18
Challenge level
A geographical survey: answer the tiny questionnaire and then analyse all the collected responses...
problem
Which spinners?
Age
14 to 18
Challenge level
Can you work out which spinners were used to generate the frequency charts?
problem
Thousands of people
Age
14 to 16
Challenge level
How many thousand people does each dot represent?
problem
Counting Fish
Age
14 to 16
Challenge level
I need a figure for the fish population in a lake. How does it help to catch and mark 40 fish?
problem
Data matching
Age
14 to 18
Challenge level
Use your skill and judgement to match the sets of random data.
problem
Where are you flying?
Age
14 to 18
Challenge level
Where do people fly to from London? What is good and bad about these representations?
problem
One variable, two variable, three variable, more
Age
14 to 18
Challenge level
Displaying one-variable and two-variable data can be straightforward; what about three or more?
problem
Sleep: the silent killer
Age
16 to 18
Challenge level
"Too much sleep is deadly" proclaimed the newspaper headline. Is this true?
problem
Do you brush your teeth every day?
Age
14 to 18
Challenge level
How can we find out answers to questions like this if people often lie?
Try more
These resources explore statistics concepts usually met by students aged 16-18
problem
Stats statements
Age
16 to 18
Challenge level
Are these statistical statements sometimes, always or never true?
Or it is impossible to say?
problem
Hypothetical shorts
Age
16 to 18
Challenge level
Some short statements about hypothesis testing: are they true, false, or somewhere in between?
problem
Robin's hypothesis testing
Age
16 to 18
Challenge level
How many trials should we do in order to accept or reject our null hypothesis?
problem
Powerful hypothesis testing
Age
16 to 18
Challenge level
How effective are hypothesis tests at showing that our null hypothesis is wrong?
problem
Can you find ... random variable edition
Age
16 to 18
Challenge level
Can you create random variables satisfying certain conditions?
problem
Binomial or not?
Age
16 to 18
Challenge level
Are these scenarios described by the binomial distribution?
problem
Binomial conditions
Age
16 to 18
Challenge level
When is an experiment described by the binomial distribution? Why do we need both the condition about independence and the one about constant probability?
problem
A well-stirred sample
Age
16 to 18
Challenge level
Typical survey sample sizes are about 1000 people. Why is this?
Read
These articles provide some background on key ideas in statistics and probability.
article
Understanding hypotheses
This article explores the process of making and testing hypotheses.
article
A probability conundrum
What do we mean by probability? This simple problem may challenge your ideas...
article
The surveyor who came to tea
This article discusses how a survey company carries out its surveys and some of the issues involved.
Read more
These articles invite you to explore statistical ideas in more depth.
article
What is a random variable, really?
This article offers an advanced perspective on random variables for the interested reader.
article
What is a hypothesis test?
This article explores the meaning of hypothesis tests, and also some of the major difficulties in interpreting them
article
\nostyle Challenging Data Tasks: The Making of "Where Are You Flying?"
How was the data for this problem compiled? A guided tour through the process.
The development of these resources was made possible by donations co-ordinated by PSI from Amgen, AstraZeneca, GSK, PHASTAR and Roche. We would like to thank all contributors for their generous support.