Statistics - why air pollution is a problem

Statistics are a vital tool that can be used to define and solve a wide range of problems in everyday life. In this lesson students will revise and consolidate statistical techniques and then look at how these techniques were used to identify and overcome problems of air pollution in London in the 1950s and how they are used to monitor air quality in London today.

Learning outcomes

• A student could calculate lists of numbers which satisfy a number of generalised requirements of mean, mode, median and range, explain why the air quality monitoring stations use the mean, and use the idea of outliers to explain why it is permissible to exceed the set limits on
• a given number of occasions.
• They should be able to calculate lists of numbers which satisfy given numerical requirements of mean, mode, median and range, explain how statistics were used to show that the smog caused an increase in death and give examples of the statistics that the air quality monitoring stations produce.
• They must be able to calculate mean, mode, median and range for a given set of numbers.

This resource is part of a full set of lessons looking at Healthy London air and using Statistics to analyse real life problems which can be found here