Students face census

Data detectives will be made of students at seven Wairarapa schools taking part in the nationwide project launching next month.

CensusAtSchool 2013 co-director Rachel Cunliffe said thousands of Kiwi students aged 10 to 18 will begin answering online questions on the first day of the new term on May 6.

The questions include: what are New Zealand kids' most common food allergies, what time do they go to sleep at night and how long can they stand on their left leg with their eyes closed?

She said 466 New Zealand schools have so far registered to take part in the project alongside Wairarapa schools including Carterton School, South End School, Douglas Park School, Rathkeale College, St Matthew's Collegiate School, Solway College, and Greytown Primary School.

Ms Cunliffe said participating teachers will administer the census in their classes between May 6 and June 14, and the 32-question survey, available in English and Maori, aims to raise students' interest in statistics and provide a picture of what they are thinking, feeling and doing.

"A good way to engage students in mathematics and statistics is to start from a place that's familiar to them - their own lives and the lives of their friends," Ms Cunliffe said.

"Students love taking part in the activities and then, in class with their teachers, becoming 'data detectives' to see what stories are in the results - and not just in their own classroom, but across the country."

Students are being asked for the first time about food allergies to reflect the lack of data on the issue, says Ms Cunliffe.

"Students will be able to explore the dataset to compare the prevalence of self-reported allergies for different ages, ethnicities and sexes."

CensusAtSchool, now in its sixth edition, is a biennial collaborative project involving teachers, the University of Auckland's Department of Statistics, Statistics New Zealand and the Ministry of Education as part of an international effort to boost statistical capability among young people, carried out in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the US, Japan and South Africa.