In the unit of work M009021 Are Males Better Drivers? students compare the reaction times of males and females.
The worksheet requires students to use mean, median, quartiles and graphs (including box-and-whisker plots) to compare data sets selected from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' CensusAtSchool website.
Ask students to use Excel functions to construct a summary table and draw appropriate graphs.
Discuss with students whether reactions times are an appropriate way to judge better drivers.
Students working in groups can present conclusions (or informal inferences) drawn from the investigation to the class.
The resource includes:
The question evokes discussion among students and is an opportunity to highlight that a researcher's personal opinions should not influence the inferences drawn from statistical analysis.
This activity is an example of a semi-structured statistical investigation and is appropriate for students from years 8 to 10.
The CensusAtSchool website has 13 fully resourced lessons and investigations for years 3 to 10.
