This week, Mathematicians in Years 7 to 9 have been analysing Census Data for the fictitious island of ‘Statistopia’.
They looked at graphs and charts to determine the need for Primary Schools across the 5 regions of the island and assessed housing requirements.
This project enabled the students to recognise the links between real-life maths and decisions that are made on government spending. Some of them put compelling cases to the Education Minister for additional money to be spent in their region on building new Primary schools. They also considered other options such as having larger class sizes, using temporary classrooms and the busing children to other regions.
Others in the class, having secured funding from the housing minister, began negotiations with housebuilders to determine the percentage of different home types needed to house the residents in their region. They considered building housing estates at the border between regions so they could share the cost of providing utilities for the estates such as water, electricity and internet.
It was a lovely opportunity for the students to showcase their use of High Performance Behaviours for Learning including collaboration, concern for society and enquiring minds.
