Session 1: Why numbers matter in everyday life
Lesson Content
Introduction to module, setting out the central role that numbers and quantification
play in everyday life.
Learning Outcomes
Completion of this session students will be to:




appreciate that numbers are a critical component of everyday life
understand how numbers can be created, represented and interpreted in
social life
explore how quantification of an issue can help us understand a complex
issue
learn some basic statistical concepts such as description, frequency and
association
Materials

Personal response system if available
Assessment


In class exercises
Class discussion
Lesson Timescale
1 hour 50 mins including a ten minute comfort break
Lesson plan
Time
Activity
Resource
5 min
Introduction to module and purpose of
(Slides 2 & 3)
today’s session
10 min
10 min
Using Numbers in Everyday Life – the
Discussion in pairs
mobile phone
Class discussion (Slide 4)
Quick fire quiz about relevance and
Personal response system
importance of numbers in everyday life
(Mix of Yes/No and Multiple
Choice questions, such as
‘Which supermarket did you last
shop in?’) (Slides 5-10)
Lecture on loyalty cards (Slides
11 & 12)
10 min
Video on statistics from Gapminder
Online video (Slide 13)
“The Joy of Stats”
5 min
Definition of number, statistic,
(Slide 14)
quantification
20 min
10 min
Demonstration of 3 different types of
Web resources
data:
Small group exercise – ‘Why is
- data on where do millionaires live
this information relevant and how
- data on GCSE rates over time
might this information be used?’
- data on hate crime in England
(Slides 15-17)
Using numbers to quantify
(Slides 18-20)
Using numbers to describe
Using numbers to explain
20 min
Statistics as a social construction
Statistics as a social construction
(Slides 21-22)
“The example of educational outcomes
(Slides 23 - 25)
and ethnicity”
10 mins
Conclusion
(Slide 26)
Lecturer Notes
Slide
Notes to Lecturer
Number
1
Cover slide
2
Title slide
3
Learning outcomes for this session
4
With the person sitting beside them, ask students to discuss what
factors influenced their choice of their current mobile phone. How they
know they were getting good value? How did they make comparisons
between different deals? After 5mins open the discussion and ask
some trigger questions:
-
what length of contract did you choose and why?
-
what combination of talk/texts/data did you go for and why?
-
How did you work out whether you would pay too much with
different providers?
5-10
Either using the Personal Response System (if available) or asking
students to put up their hands, work through the questions.
11
Discuss how some supermarkets have developed loyalty cards as a
means to hold onto customers, and that it can been seen as benefitting
both retailers and shoppers. However, the information gathered through
comparing our shopping habits with our demographic details can also
be used for other purposes.
12
By analysing who buys what and when supermarkets can try to
influence our shopping habits. Ask if any of the students work in a
supermarket and if they have any examples of how supermarkets might
use this type of information?
13
Show the first 4mins 30 secs of the Gapminder video with Hans Rosling
(up to the bit about Noble prize winners being no more intelligent than
chimpanzees). This just highlights how numbers are part of everyday
life – you might want to encourage the students to watch the whole
video in their own time
14
Definitions – an explanation of some key terms
15
Click through to The Guardian datablog – this slide is meant to highlight
how data could be presented in different ways. For example, the right
hand map shows the number of multimillionaires in the cities, while the
left hand map shows the number of multimillionaires per 100,000
people in each city (Aberdeen has more multimillionaires per person
than London!). Learning point – how data is presented can tell different
stories
16
This slide shows how data can answer some questions (have rates of
GCSE passes changed over time), without necessarily providing an
explanation as to why. Learning point – data sometimes needs to be
supplemented by other types and sources of information.
17
Click through to The Guardian datablog – this slide highlights how data
can be manipulated to tell a more complex story. In this case the drop
down menu lets us look at how different types of hate crime are
apparent in different parts of England. Learning point – we need to
sometimes go beyond the headline figure/statistic to better understand
what might be happening.
18-20
Using data from National Statistics these slides helps students to think
about how we might use numbers:
Quantify – eg how many people live in different parts of the UK
Describe – eg what is the gender and age profile of people in the UK
Explain – eg how much has the population increase in the UK been due
to migration
Learning point – the questions we pose may require different types or
presentations of data
21-22
This leads onto a discussion about the social construction of statistics.
This slides asks students to think about the act of speeding whilst
driving – a common occurrence, even though illegal.
How does society define what is the permissible speed for any piece of
road? When does the act of speeding become a crime – when we
speed or when we are caught? How should the police respond? When
should someone be cautioned or prosecuted?
Ask for comments on these issues from the class
23
A worked example of how statistics can help in our understanding of a
complex issue: Educational outcomes and ethnicity
There is some statistical evidence that children from BME communities
in London achieve lower educational outcomes than other children. Ask
class - Why might this be?
24
But even within London some communities perform worse than others –
why might this be? Are the factors at the level of the individual child; the
school or the wider community? For example, African Caribbean
children in Hackney do less well than African Caribbean children
generally in London
25
A number of factors at play including whether children speak English,
the level of social deprivation in the community, how settled schools are
and whether teachers expect more or less of some pupils.
Learning point – statistics need careful interrogation in order to unpack
an issue and inform our understanding and ultimately allow us to
intervene more effectively
26
Recap learning outcomes and preview the next session
27
Activity title slide
28-29
Activity Part A
30
Activity Part B
31
References