CensusAtSchool: a statistical experience for students

<h2>A new generation of statisticians and data scientists will soon be able to see their lives reflected in data as <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;new&period;censusatschool&period;org&period;nz&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">CensusAtSchool 2019<&sol;a> has now launched&comma; according to Stats NZ&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Up to 30&comma;000 school children from Years 5–13 will anonymously share their views on a wide range of issues affecting their lives&period; The survey will run from now to 5 July and is available on digital devices in both English and te reo M&amacr;ori&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Government Statistician Liz MacPherson said CensusAtSchool helps to open up the world of data and statistics to young people&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It’s a powerful thing when you can delve into a dataset and see yourself and your peers reflected in the data&comma;” Ms MacPherson said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The students who take part in CensusAtSchool gain a valuable insight into how statistics are gathered and how the data can inform decisions and change lives&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Students get the whole statistical experience – from filling in the survey to delving into the data to gain valuable insights about how they and their peers are tracking&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The survey will cover topics such as students’ use of digital devices&comma; how they handle interpersonal issues&comma; and how they commute to school&period; Older students taking part in the survey will also be asked about their attitudes towards youth drinking&comma; smoking&comma; and drug-taking&comma; as well as their parents’ attitudes to those sensitive topics&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>CensusAtSchool New Zealand&comma; TataurangaKiTeKura Aotearoa&comma; is a non-profit project that aims to bring statistics to life in New Zealand’s classrooms&period; The project is run by the University of Auckland’s Department of Statistics in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Stats NZ&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This year’s CensusAtSchool is expected to be the biggest yet&period; More than 1&comma;300 teachers from 700 schools have signed up to take part in the ninth edition of the survey&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>CensusAtSchool is part of an international project designed to enhance statistical literacy&comma; which was based on a New Zealand trial in 1990 run by Professor Sharleen Forbes&comma; a former Stats NZ statistician&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;