Students can measure and represent data collected about themselves.
They can then be asked to speculate about whether these measurements would represent a larger population (such as all students in their year across Australia) leading to an informal inference.
This relies on careful definitions of the sample and population, appreciating the most appropriate graphical representation, and knowing which measures of centre and spread will summarise the sample data.
Using this evidence to make an informal inference, students must realise that their conclusion cannot be made with absolute certainty because of the gap between their sample and the population.
Students might collect data on
