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Are males better drivers?

In the unit of work M009021 Are Males Better Drivers? students compare the reaction times of males and females.

The worksheet requires students to use mean, median, quartiles and graphs (including box-and-whisker plots) to compare data sets selected from the Australian Bureau of Statistics' CensusAtSchool website.

Ask students to use Excel functions to construct a summary table and draw appropriate graphs.

Discuss with students whether reactions times are an appropriate way to judge better drivers.

Students working in groups can present conclusions (or informal inferences) drawn from the investigation to the class.

The resource includes:

The question evokes discussion among students and is an opportunity to highlight that a researcher's personal opinions should not influence the inferences drawn from statistical analysis.

This activity is an example of a semi-structured statistical investigation and is appropriate for students from years 8 to 10.  

The CensusAtSchool website has 13 fully resourced lessons and investigations for years 3 to 10. 

Curriculum links

Year 10: Construct and interpret box plots and use them to compare data sets

Year 9: Compare data displays using mean, median and range to describe and interpret numerical data sets in terms of location (centre) and spread

Year 8: Explore the variation of means and proportions of random samples drawn from the same population

Year 8: Investigate the effect of individual data values, including outliers, on the mean and median

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