Making decisions with data: Are we environmentally friendly?

Preparing our students to be statistically literate in today’s world is paramount. If students are to make informed decisions in life, both now and in the future, they need to understand and reason critically with data (Watson, 2006). The goal of critical statistical literacy reflects a combination of two of the general capabilities in the Australian Curriculum (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2013), namely, critical and creative thinking and numeracy, as reflected in the element of interpreting statistical information. In this article we describe a unit of work completed by four Year 5 classes in an Australian capital city school. The unit introduced students to a four-step procedure for undertaking statistical investigations, where they developed an understanding of the foundational concept of variation and the relationship of samples to populations. An appreciation of uncertainty in making decisions with data was also a key learning component. The availability of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) CensusAtSchool website meant that students could move beyond their classes and collect random samples from a pseudo-population of Year 5 students, observe variation, and make decisions.