Practicing statistics in Year 4

This study reports on the capabilities of 53 Year 4 students as they completed the final stages of their first complete statistical investigation. In the context of becoming acquainted with students in a sister school in another city, students in both schools wrote and refined questions, which were answered by all students in an on-line survey. Using data from both schools, students chose at least one question to analyse and present their findings comparing the two cities and/or groups of students. Of interest are the representations created for the questions chosen, the conclusions drawn, the variation observed, the certainty about the conclusion, and the comments about what had been learned about writing survey questions.