Curriculum

K-12 Lessons From U.S. Census Bureau Use Real Data to Teach Statistics

By Liana Loewus — September 21, 2016 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

This month, the U.S. Census Bureau launched an updated website with free K-12 lesson plans for teaching statistics through geography, history, math, and social studies activities.

The Statistics in Schools lessons use current and historical data to help students understand statistical concepts. The activities were created by teachers, according to a spokeswoman for the group.

The program originally came out around the 2000 census and was focused on helping students understand the census process. The updated site emphasizes general data literacy and allows teachers to search activities by grade band and subject.

The lessons include:

As we wrote recently, only about 1 in 4 high school seniors report having taken a statistics course, and low-income students are less likely than their high-income peers to have taken the subject. Some argue that statistical analysis skills are becoming even more critical as data are proliferating quickly across all sectors.

A press release from the Census Bureau says there are about 100 activities and resources on the site, including activities, videos, infographics, and searchable data tools.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Curriculum Matters blog.