Curriculum extra Unit 8
Focus on Maths: Statistics
1 Read Sandra's notes about a survey she did at
school. Then complete the bar chart.
3 With your partner, choose a question for a short
survey. Decide on the size of your sample. One
student should ask the question and the other
should make a note of the answers.
Use one of these questions or think of your own:
Survey notes
school population: 640 students
sample: 80 students
horizontal axis: number of hours of
TV per week
vertical axis: number of students
How many hours do you spend …
browsing the internet every
day?
playing computer games every
week?
Responses
30 hours: 5 students
25 hours: 8 students
20 hours: 16 students
15 hours: 24 students
10 hours: 19 students
5 hours: 8 students
How often do you …
wash up every week?
go shopping every
month?
4 Analyse people’s responses and produce a bar
chart. Use exercise 1 to help you to organize
your information.
5 Present your bar chart to the class. Use the
instructions and the phrases to help you.
Explain what the question was.
Say how big your sample was.
Say how big the total population was.
Point out any peaks and troughs on your chart.
Say what the mode and mean numbers on your
chart are.
Finish with a conclusion.
2 Work with a partner. Compare your bar charts
and answer the questions about the survey
together.
1 What question did Sandra ask the students?
2 Did everyone in the school take part in the
survey?
3 What is the mode, or most popular answer?
4 Is there a trough, or least popular answer? What
is it?
5 Use a calculator to find the mean, or average,
number of hours that students spend doing the
activity.
6 Imagine you are at Sandra’s school. Add your
answers to the survey to her notes, and the bar
chart.
3
We wanted to find
out
We talked to a
sample of …
students
On our chart,
In conclusion,
how long students spend
browsing the internet /
playing computer games.
how often students wash up
/ go shopping.
out of a total population of
… students.
there is a peak / trough
here.
the mode / mean is … .
a lot / only a few / most of
us …
0
