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Datasets for teaching, learning, and assessing of Statistics in NZ schools

Aotearoa NZ has a world-leading strand of Statistics in the learning area 'Mathematics and Statistics'. Teachers and students have a huge need for fresh, relevant, clearly curated, NZ datasets. These datasets would include: - case or unit-record datasets, multivariate with categorical and numerical variable - time series datasets, some with periodic (eg monthly) time scales. The subject matter and context can be anything that would challenge students, from Year 1 to Year 13. Teachers feel the need most in the senior classes. Teachers and students would need to save the rectangular dataset as a csv file, so they can open it in software such as https://inzight.nz/ . Also, they will need metadata with context and details of variables, set of data contributors, and data sources. You could look at the 20 resources provided by University of Otago Stats: https://new.censusatschool.org.nz/nzsa/ ; Datasets with their NZ contexts – Statistics in Research (2023)

This solves two problems:
- it provides teachers and students with valuable data experiences on relevant and timely NZ contexts
- it provides data.govt with a potentially huge audience of appreciative users,
who will take away an understanding of the existence and value of data.govt.

Students would experience real data in context. They would
- practice skills at exploring and analysing it, and they would also
- meet the issues of data sourcing, data cleaning and editing, data ownership, and data sovereignty.
These issues are implied in the newly released Curriculum:
https://curriculumrefresh.education.govt.nz/mathematics-and-statistics

I would like to suggest a conversation about this major opportunity. I hope that this Data Request starts the conversation.

A good start may be a teacher-friendly path into existing datasets.

I've selected Callaghan below because I needed to select someone, but many of those agencies would be appropriate, as country-wide and local datasets will be useful.

If needed, I can supply one piece of feedback from a teacher who has tried using data.govt.


1 Comment

  • James Buckley

    First attempt to use your data with year 11 students enrolled in the NCEA change programme.
    There are 3 main math teachers in the department at the College and we varying levels of teaching experience.

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