Statistics and Probability

At the Level 1/2 stage, Statistics includes developing a question for survey, gathering responses and representing data in a visual display.

Common visual displays at this level include tallies, bar graphs and/or pictograms. Typical questions might require a yes/no response or a response from a selection of answers. For example, students might ask the question "Do you have a pet?", and will tally yes/no responses. They might also ask "Which is your favourite season?" and then represent the responses for each of the four seasons in a bar graph.

Probability includes talking about the likelihood of events, using terms such as "likely" and "not likely", and/or "possible" and "impossible". Discuss the likelihood of events with students. Prompting questions can be useful, such as: "How likely is it that it will snow in Australia today? Why or why not?". Students should be encouraged to use their maths vocabulary when responding, i.e. "It is not likely that it will snow in Australia today because it is Autumn and we don't usually get snow in Autumn".

What are the chance of these events happening? Use the chance language below to describe it.

• Will happen

• Might Happen

• Won't Happen

• Certain

• Likely

• Unlikely

• Impossible