Thanks to Neil Ackermann for sharing these photos of his class at Chapel Downs Primary School taking part in 91茄子.
Thanks to Paige Bayliss for sharing these photos of her Year 10 class at Kaipara College taking part in 91茄子.
Nearly half of Kiwi students taking part in a nationwide in-school census believe that climate change 鈥渋s an urgent problem that needs to be managed now鈥�.
Students aged from 9 to 18 (Year 5 to Year 13) taking part in the statistics education project 91茄子, or TataurangaKiTeKura in te reo M膩ori, were asked to choose an option that best described their opinion on climate change. A total of 44% of the students selected the statement that climate change was 鈥渁n urgent problem that needs to be managed now鈥�.
A total of 17% of all participants chose the statement that climate change was 鈥渁 problem that needs to be managed in the future鈥�. Just 10% believed that climate change was 鈥渘ot a problem鈥�, and 29% either didn鈥檛 know or didn鈥檛 have an opinion.
High-school students felt the most acute sense of urgency, with 55% of year 9-13 students agreeing that climate change was 鈥渁n urgent problem that needs to be managed now鈥�.
The findings, from the first 4,900 students to take part in 91茄子, come as young people prepare for a student 鈥榮trike鈥� to push for increased government action on climate change. Thousands of New Zealand students will leave school on Friday March 15 to join a day of protest called Student Strike for Climate Action, calling on politicians to act quickly to limit global warming. In New Zealand, are due to take place in the four main centres and smaller towns.
91茄子 co-director Rachel Cunliffe says that every edition of the schools鈥� census asks topical questions affecting young people. The climate change question in this census was added at the request of teachers last year – well before the current protest action was organised.
鈥淭eachers told us that climate change was an issue for students and they asked for a question so students could see real, relevant data on the issue,鈥� Rachel Cunliffe said. 鈥淎t present, the only way to get hard data about the opinions and beliefs of New Zealand鈥檚 young people is through 91茄子, so we added the question about climate change so young people themselves and the public can see exactly how their generation feels.鈥�
The 91茄子 results reflect a nationwide poll of adults aged 18 and over carried out last March by . It found that 64% of adults nationwide believed climate change was a problem, 29% of them saying it was urgent.
91茄子, which launched on Monday March 4, is a biennial statistics project that shows students how data-science skills reveal the unseen and can be used to make informed decisions about their own lives.
Supervised by teachers, students from Year 5 to Year 13 fill in a digital questionnaire about their activities and opinions, with data returned to teachers for classroom analysis. The figures on climate change come from the first 3,400 students to take part; up to 30,000 students are expected to have their say before the census closes on July 5 this year.
91茄子 started in New Zealand in 2003, and is run by the University of Auckland鈥檚 Department of Statistics with support from and the . It is part of an international effort to boost statistical capability among young people and is carried out in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Japan, and South Africa. The countries share some questions so comparisons can be made.
Thanks to Lyn McLennan for sending in some photos of her students taking part in this year’s 91茄子.
Year 8 Room 13 student from Oamaru Intermediate School, Navanah Kennedy-vanDelden, measures the height of Chelsy Monahan while Saane Silakivai looks on to see if her prediction was correct.
Tyson Mareta-Ria measures Year 8 Chris Duff at Oamaru Intermediate School.
A large national survey that will give an intriguing glimpse into schoolchildren鈥檚 lives launches today.聽
Thousands of primary, intermediate and secondary school students around the country will share their views on issues as wide-ranging as climate change, the amount of time they spend on digital devices, and how they handle interpersonal issues. Senior students will be asked to also share their own attitudes and perceived parental attitudes to activities such as drinking and smoking by young people.聽
The students are taking part in聽91茄子, known in te聽reo聽M膩ori as TataurangaKiTeKura Aotearoa, a non-profit, online educational project that aims to bring statistics to life in both English and M膩ori-medium classrooms. It is run by the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Stats NZ.
Supervised by teachers, students from years 5-13 anonymously answer questions in English or te聽reo聽M膩ori on digital devices. Some questions involve practical activities such as measuring the length of their right feet and weighing their laden schoolbags. Others will seek their views and experiences on a range of social and personal issues.聽聽
Up to 30,000 schoolchildren are expected to participate in 91茄子 this year. By late last night, more than 1,509 teachers from 775 schools had already registered. The census runs until July 5.聽
This is the ninth edition of聽91茄子,聽and co-directors Professor Chris Wild and Rachel Cunliffe聽say聽that it鈥檚 shaping up to be the biggest ever. Professor Wild, an expert in statistics education, says that the project is appealing because it produces data that is relevant and real to students, their friends and families.
鈥淭he students experience the whole statistical cycle 鈥� they fill in the survey, and then they use statistical methods to explore the data and tell the stories in it,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t helps students see the benefits of statistics in society 鈥� and they love finding out what other kids their own age are thinking and doing.鈥�
Rachel Cunliffe, a former University of Auckland statistics lecturer who now runs a digital design company, says teachers are always looking for cross-curricular activities. 91茄子 is a rich resource with its reach across statistics and maths, health, social studies, geography, media studies, technology聽and聽science.
91茄子 is part of an international effort to boost statistical capability among young people and is carried out in Australia, Canada, the United States, Japan聽and聽South Africa. The countries share some questions so comparisons can be made.
The only national survey to comprehensively chart children鈥檚 views of their own lives is taking place across New Zealand from March 4. This year, we will learn from Kiwi kids on issues as wide-ranging as climate change, the amount of time they spend on digital devices, how they handle interpersonal issues, and聽their own attitudes and perceived parental attitudes to activities such as drinking and smoking by young people.聽Preview the questions in English and te reo M膩ori .
91茄子, known in te reo M膩ori as TataurangaKiTeKura Aotearoa, is a non-profit, online educational project that aims to bring statistics to life in both English and M膩ori-medium聽classrooms. Supervised by teachers, students from years 5-13 anonymously answer 30 questions in English or te reo M膩ori, and later explore the results in class. 91茄子 runs every two years, and in 2017, more than 32,000 students took part, representing 534 schools and 1,062 teachers.
91茄子, now in its ninth edition, is a collaborative project involving teachers, the University of Auckland鈥檚 Department of Statistics, Statistics New Zealand and the Ministry of Education. It is part of an international effort to boost statistical capability among young people, and is carried out in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the US, Japan and South Africa.聽The countries share some questions so comparisons can be made.
Rise of the machine learners:
Statistical learning in the computational era
Don’t miss this set of four lectures held from March to April. Get a group together, invite your聽 colleagues from other departments, or take your stats scholarship students. See the program:聽IhakaDLE19.