Statistics A Level
Statistics A Level resources
Making statistics vital
Making Statistics Vital consists of forty independent activities covering the topics of exploring data, data presentation, measures of centre and spread, probability, discrete random variables, binomial distribution, the Poisson distribution, the normal distribution, sampling and hypothesis testing using the normal distribution, contingency tables and the Chi-Squared distribution, bivariate data, regression and correlation and Markov chains.
Students have practical opportunities to explore and develop further their knowledge and understanding of statistical measures and their application
Discovering Important Statistical Concepts using Spreadsheets (DISCUS)
DISCUS consists of eight Excel workbooks and a set of associated photocopiable work cards covering the topics:
Descriptive Statistics, Probability, Binomial Distributions, The Poisson Distribution, Continuous Distributions, Sampling, Regression and Hypothesis Testing.
The materials are designed to be used off the shelf by students working on their own, and little preparation by teaching staff is required. Each workbook consists of a series of interactive spreadsheets on a particular topic. No prior knowledge of Excel is necessary.
The accompanying work cards provide a series of thought provoking challenges which it is hoped will help the student to gain insight and understanding.
Exploring Statistics
This resource is designed to provide a series of short problems to stimulate discussion of statistics amongst students and between students and teachers; and to provide some longer investigations which search more deeply into the student’s understanding of the statistics topics found in Advanced level courses. It is hoped that by using the material in this resource, students will gain insights into aspects of statistics that cannot be formally taught, but that can only be gained by experience.
Statistical Modelling
From the Integrating Mathematical Problem Solving project by Mathematics for Education and Industry (MEI), this activity for post-16 students shows how modelling helps decision making by allowing us to see what is likely to happen. The mathematical ideas covered are:
• Modelling cycle
• Binomial probability model
• Expected value
• Use of spreadsheets in modelling
Census at School
The project was linked to the UK population census of 2001 and has now developed into a dynamic, ongoing and exciting initiative running in a number of countries.
It aims to:
• Involve students in collecting data about themselves and improve understanding of a data gathering process, its purpose and benefits to society;
• Foster a positive attitude to statistics through using real data that is of interest to students;
• Enhance the process of statistical enquiry across the curriculum;
• Encourage effective Information and Communication Technology (ICT) teaching and learning, including the use of the Internet;
• Provide access to large and meaningful data sets;
• Make comparisons between the student responses in different countries
Statistics
The emphasis in this Nuffield Advanced Mathematics option was on non-parametric methods to help students to gain a good understanding of statistical processes. Students required access to a computer with a professional statistics package to gain the full benefit from this option.
Contents: Collecting real data, Looking for differences, Fitting a model to the data, The Poisson distribution, Simulations, Summaries and exercises
