Integrated A poll result is not… | Year 8 Inquiry · T1 W1–2 · Week 02

Five 35-minute sessions using only a fictional 100-person population and constructed 20-person samples. The mathematical idea is selection and sample variation; the English idea is how a post uses a number to push a decision. This route addresses parts of AC9M8ST01, AC9M8ST02, AC9M8ST03, AC9M8ST04, AC9E8LY02, AC9E8LY03, AC9E8LY06, AC9E8LY07. Source review notes are here.

Safeguard: do not survey actual classmates about travel, address, family resources or disability. Do not invite personal disclosures to make the task “real”. Use Text B, the constructed sample table, 100-cell print grid and its plain-text route. If a future real data study is authorised, it needs school consent, purpose, minimisation and safe storage first.

Day 1 — Define whose question it is

Question · 3 min. Read the fictional post's 80% claim. Ask: “80% of whom?”
Model groups · 5 min. Write population: 100 invented students; sample C: 20 at bicycle racks; respondents reporting bicycle: 16. Name who is missing from the sample frame.
Guided scope · 7 min. Learners sort 16/20 reported bicycle, 80% of all students, remove shelter as calculation, inference and action. The last two need further justification.
Independent inquiry card · 12 min. Each learner writes the population question, one fair selection idea, one possible harm from acting on biased data, and one privacy safeguard. No actual data collected.
Peer review · 5 min. Partner checks whether the inquiry asks about a whole group while selecting only one location.
Exit · 3 min. Key: C gives 80% of its 20 rack respondents, not of all 100 fictional people.

Day 2 — Give everyone a chance to be selected

Recall · 3 min. Ask why asking only by racks can distort the answer.
Model mechanism · 5 min. With ten numbered scrap cards, shuffle face down and select two without replacement. Each card had a chance; selection did not depend on travel mode. This mini-demo is not the 100-person result.
Scale plan · 7 min. Learners explain how the same method could use 100 numbered fictional cards and select 20. Teacher can use prepared cards if time allows; no real people are selected.
Compare model results · 12 min. Use supplied constructed random A and B. For bicycle, A 3/20=15%, B 4/20=20%. Record both without declaring one wrong.
Method audit · 5 min. Ask what would break the fair-chance plan: leaving some cards out, replacing only some or selecting after seeing mode labels.
Exit · 3 min. Key: a fair mechanism can still produce two different samples; equality of results is not a requirement.

Day 3 — Read a chart before using its headline

Spot · 3 min. Display A, B and C bicycle shares 15%, 20%, 80%. Ask which sample came from the racks.
Model · 5 min. Teacher fills a 20-cell grid for A: three selected bicycle cells, seventeen other; writes 3/20, not 3/100.
Guided display · 7 min. Groups make B and C 20-cell strips; then label C “convenience at racks” on the display itself.
Independent caption · 12 min. Learners write an accessible text caption or speak it: exact percentage, selected group, source and limit. “80% of those 20 respondents…” is valid; “80% of school…” is not.
Counter-reading · 5 min. Partner reads only the image, then only the caption. If the caption omits sample method, add it; graphics do not carry meaning alone.
Exit · 3 min. Key: 5 percentage points between A and B bicycle shares equals one person out of 20, not five people.

Day 4 — What does the known model population teach?

Reveal · 3 min. Show the artificial population shares: 40% walk/roll, 30% bus, 20% bicycle, 10% other. Say real investigators usually do not know the exact population beforehand.
Model error · 5 min. A bicycle estimate is 15%, five percentage points from known model 20%; B matches 20%; C is 60 points above. One match does not prove that a method always matches.
Guided claim audit · 7 min. Test “Random samples are perfect” and “A larger sample is always exact.” Both are false. A repeated fictional simulation gives a smaller average error for size 40 than size 10, but any individual sample may still miss the model proportion.
Independent report · 12 min. Learners write a three-sentence report: two contrasting sample results, why selection matters, one question before changing a shelter. They may use a table/tactile grid plus dictated caption.
Ethical check · 5 min. Ask whose access to transport might be overlooked by a shelter change, without asking peers how they personally travel.
Exit · 3 min. Key: the rack sample's 80% is much higher than the known fictional model 20%; selection method is the concern.

Day 5 — A usable, bounded correction

Audience · 3 min. Address a fictional school newsletter editor, not a real student group.
Plan · 5 min. Put full quotation, sample method, valid fraction, uncertainty and next action in order.
Rehearse · 7 min. Partner paraphrases the correction and asks one question. A quiet one-to-one or AAC route is equal for reasoning.
Create · 12 min. Make a corrected post, accessible audio script, poster with text alternative or memo. State that all figures are fictional. Do not present the 100-person constructed distribution as a real school fact.
Check · 5 min. Teacher marks fraction correct / denominator named / method explained / action bounded; select one next teaching move per learner.
Exit · 3 min. “What should a reader do before believing a whole-school percentage?” Key: ask who was in the population, how the sample was selected and what uncertainty remains.

Teacher next moves: If a student computes 80% correctly but generalises it, teach denominator labels, not division. If they critique bias but cannot compute percentages, use a 20-cell strip where one cell equals 5%. If they want to use real data, direct them to the school's approval process; the pack works without it.

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