“A statistics poster tells the story of a data set.”

Why take part?

  • The poster challenge encourages students to perform an investigation using real data whilst practising graphical and numerical calculations.
  • Numbers and graphs are used to describe the data. By piecing together the information provided by the graphs and numbers we can interpret the results and understand the meaning of the data. Whether the summary is a bar chart, histogram, or table of numerical values the focus is always on the meaning.
  • Essential communication skills in presenting results as a poster and working within a team can also be developed.

A good poster?

A good poster will enable the reader to discover the story behind the data by following the logical progression of the poster. The emphasis is on the visual display of results through well placed graphs and a suitable commentary including an introduction and a conclusion.

Why are data skills important?

The analysis and interpretation of data are important skills in everyday life. They help us understand and explain what is happening. From the age of 5 upwards students are expected to learn various graphical and descriptive measures to summarise data. SPoC provides an innovative outlet for these skills.

Statistics and the National Curriculum

Statistics and statistical thinking is now part of the National Curriculum across all school years. A statistics poster challenge provides children with a framework for becoming involved in statistical activities and learning to communicate these to an audience. Whilst to become a statistician it is important to understand much mathematical theory, it is possible for even young children to ‘think statistically’ through the process of collecting and displaying data appropriately. The challenge enables students to see how fun it can be to explore real-world problems pertinent to them through data analysis, interpretation and communication. Within schools, SPoC provides students an ideal focus for performing cross-curricular investigations.

Inspire Campaign - New for 2012/2013

Many students struggle with learning data skills and statistics as they do not appreciate the usefulness and importance of such skills in everyday life or within the workplace. 'Inspire' provides real life examples of the use of statistics and data used by companies to inspire students in their learning. Within each region, a selection of local inspirational companies are invited to provide examples of using data and indicate how it improves their business. (more)

Sponsorship

The poster challenge is jointly organised by Conker Statistics and The University of Sheffield and sponsored by companies and organisations throughout the UK who recognise the importance of promoting good data skills to the future workforce. (more)

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Teacher quotes

“All the children enjoyed the experience. It was a new experience for them - its not very often that maths and statistics is pretty and creative.”

“The competition gives the children purpose and focus for the maths covered during the week. It links particularly well to our healthy school week. The children were very enthusiastic and highly motivated.”

“SPoC provides a wonderful opportunity for children to do their own work on a variety of topics which interest them whilst developing their data handling skills.”

“We take part in the challenge every year and it is always satisfying to know other people rate our pupils work as highly as we do.”

“The students enjoyed telling a story with statistics.”