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December 2006 CensusAtSchool Newsletter - Edition No. 16
Contents
Amaroo School uses CensusAtSchool
CensusAtSchool Icon Change
The Year That Was...
Staffing
2007
Census Data
Amaroo School uses CensusAtSchool
Year 8 and 9 students in Margaret Wong’s class commenced a student centred CensusAtSchool assignment. The assignment asked students to investigate a topic of their choice from the CensusAtSchool questionnaire.
It was an excellent student centred task that asked students to select a CensusAtSchool sample and summarise the data for their chosen topic using tables and graphs. Students undertook their own mini survey of their whole year group to compare their results with a sample of CensusAtSchool data and then, presented their findings to the rest of the class and explained how their data could be used by a marketing company to promote a product or service.
Students experimented with various ways of summarising and displaying data. When comparing their survey data with the CensusAtSchool data, the students were encouraged to think about the accuracy of the data and what impact this may have on the results.
The students came up with a number of creative uses for the data they collected. One group suggested using information about the most common languages (other than English) spoken at home to help programmers determine which languages to use in educational software designed to assist students from non-English speaking backgrounds. Other groups suggested using information about post-school plans to determine where to build universities and where to run programs to help students that have other plans.
Students commented that using CensusAtSchool data “…was good, I learnt something” and that they valued “…having a chance to see what and how other students present their work”.
Margaret said “I enjoyed giving the students an opportunity to broaden their perspective of statistics by working on an authentic project.” I
 Yr 9 students at Amaroo School |  | l |
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CensusAtSchool Icon Change
CensusAtSchool IS ALIVE AND WELL, even if the icon is no longer on the ABS homepage. CensusAtSchool will be available into the future.
You can still use the webpages and access data. In fact, now is a good time to plan to use the data in 2007. From now on you can find CensusAtSchool by going to the ABS homepage www.abs.gov.au.
Click on 'Education Resources' in the grey menu bar (top right corner) below the green banner.
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Use this URL: https://abs.gov.au/websitedbs/d3310114.nsf/Home/Education%20Resources
CensusAtSchool is the first link under 'For School Teachers'. It is a good idea to bookmark the URL or save it in your Favourites.
The Icon for CensusAtSchool has been removed from the ABS homepage because of the high demand for the 'real estate' on the homepage, and we've had our turn for now. It will reappear in the lead-up to the next data collection in 2008. |
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The Year That Was...
Two years of hard work and planning culminated in 2006 with the first national CensusAtSchool Project. The Australian CensusAtSchool project has been the most successful of its kind worldwide and has established itself as one of the key online statistical resources for schools in Australia. A database of over 112,000 records is now available from which your students can take samples. More than 60,000 samples have been taken so far. |
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Staffing
It is also time for some of our existing team members to leave us and pursue other challenges.
Tim Jones has been one of the project's key players and his contributions have been critical to the success of CensusAtSchool. Tim was CensusAtSchool Online Production Manager. He was responsible for the development and design of the web page, marketing strategies and overall technical running of the CensusAtSchool project.
Mara Rebellato has supported the project as one of our teacher consultants during 2006. In particular, she has promoted the project, conducting professional development activities around the country. She has been invaluable in ensuring the needs of primary schools were addressed.
Also leaving our team is Louise Oldman who provided support and professional development to teachers in the ACT and parts of NSW. She has also made a valuable contribution to the success of the project.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Tim, Mara and Louise for their dedication, hard work, skill and priceless enthusiasm, and wish them every success in their future endeavours. |
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2007
The web site and data will remain available for students to access and use. We aim to be able to give you more examples of how teachers are using the data in their classrooms.
We will be reviewing the questions in preparation for the next CensusAtSchool Questionnaire Phase, so look out for the opportunity to contribute. This will ensure the questions provide data that is even more useful to you.
ABS will be hosting an International CensusAtSchool Conference, 26-30 March. The aim is to bring together the international projects with a view to increasing the number of common questions and making retrieval of the data common to all projects.
Thank you for supporting CensusAtSchool and helping us to provide such a strong beginning to this valuable teaching resource. |
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Census data
The most recent Census was conducted on 8 August, 2006, and the first data are expected to be released in mid 2007. However you can use a range of the new and exciting electronic products now (using 2001 Census Data). Simply click on the Census menu item under the green Australian Bureau of Statistics banner.
QuickStats: A summary of key Census data for a chosen area
Census Tables: Individual tables of Census data for a chosen location
Community Profiles: A variety of tables presenting Census data in detail, for a chosen location.
Merry Christmas from the CensusAtSchool Team |
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| If you have any questions or general CensusAtSchool project enquiries, please contact the ABS, National Education Service Unit, CensusAtSchool Team by email censusatschool@abs.gov.au or on free call 1800 623 273 between 9:00am and 5:00pm (AEST) Monday to Friday. | |
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