Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Optional Preparation – Ground Rules For Classroom Discussion
15 minutes – Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge
25 minutes – Part B: Who Are The Homeless?
20 minutes – Part C: Counting The Homeless
35 minutes – Part D: Creating Histograms
5 minutes – Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Introduce the lesson by informing students that they will be investigating statistics through the topic of homelessness. Assure the class that if they’re not familiar with the topic outside of what they may have seen on the media, that’s OK, as they’ll have the opportunity to learn more about the topic throughout the lesson.

Step 2.

Invite students to explore their current understanding of the homelessness by completing a Colour – Symbol – Feeling visible thinking routine on the Student Worksheet.

This routine asks students to choose a colour, symbol and feeling that best represents or captures the essence of homelessness. If students are unsure of what this may look like, provide the following example to guide them.

Step 3.

Next, invite the class to share their ideas with a partner and encourage students to explain their colour, symbol and feeling choices. Reconvene the class and ask students to share something interesting that came up in their discussion. Students will return to this routine in the Reflection part of this lesson.

Part B: Who Are The People Experiencing Homeless?

Step 1.

Invite students to sit in a place where they can see the screen and introduce the following clip from the Life After The Oasis documentary by explaining that it features the story of Emma, who was being supported by The Oasis Youth Support Network when The Oasis documentary was filmed 10 years ago. Before you begin watching, remind students that the clip they are about to see features real people courageously sharing their stories.

Emma's Story (https://vimeo.com/347210687/d9e3ffb66b)

Step 2.

After viewing 'Emma’s Story', facilitate a class discussion focusing on what students found interesting about her story. Prompt questions could include:

What did you find interesting about Emma's story?
What surprised you or challenged you?
How did Emma's story make you feel?

Step 3.

Invite students to write down their own definition of homelessness and then estimate the numbers of people experiencing homelessness by filling in the gaps with a number for each of the following statements (also available on the Student Worksheet).

On any given night in Australia, 1 in _ 00 people experiencing homelessness.
There are _ 05,237 people experiencing homelessness in Australia.
There are ,845 children under 10 who are experiencing homelessness, with X02 of them sleeping out.
% are male; % female.

Step 4.

Encourage students to share their definitions with the class and then project the What Is Homelessness? Factsheet. Take some time to review the definition provided and the estimates for the statistical statements. Depending on student understanding, you may need to explain some of the terms within the definition.

Step 5.

Explain to students that statistics can be represented in a range of ways to show different information. Invite students to suggest ways that statistics can be shared as a visual representation. Examples may include, graphs, charts, pictures, diagrams, tables.

Step 6.

Using the What Is Homelessness? Factsheet, project the 'Reasons why people are homeless' pie chart for all students to see. Explain that this pie chart represents the data from a survey and presents the findings as a percentage. Read through the following reasons as to why people are homeless and discuss the data:

Domestic and family violence (24%)
Financial difficulties (20%)
Housing crisis (16%)
Inappropriate dwellings (11%)
Relationship issues (8%)
Other accommodation issues (5%)
Health issues (4%)
Transition from custody (2%)
Itinerant (1%)
Lack of support (1%)
Other reasons (8%).

Step 7.

Invite students to describe what they see and what they think that this visual representation is telling them. To promote a deeper understanding of visual representations, ask for suggestions as to how else this information could have been presented.

Part C: Counting The Homeless

Step 1.

Divide the class into six groups and assign each to one of the following demographics to investigate:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Young people
Older persons
Disability
Culturally and linguistically diverse
Marginally housed and at risk of homelessness

Invite students to write their assigned topic in the space provided on the Student Worksheet.

Step 2.

Write the following prompt question on the board:

What information can you find about your demographic that could be represented using statistics?

Explain to students that they will use this prompt question to guide their research to find relevant statistics and information about their allocated demographic.

Homelessness Australia has relevant fact sheets for different demographics that can be used as a foundation for research, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has a large amount of general statistics that could also be useful.

Step 3.

Invite students to research their demographic using the following resources in the Student Worksheet as a starting point.

Encourage students to record any interesting information and statistics in the Student Worksheet and share their finding with all groups members.

Step 4.

Once students have had an opportunity to find relevant statistics about their demographic, invite groups to discuss their research using the following prompt questions:

What was surprising and/or interesting about the information found?
What are the most effective ways of presenting this information? Justify your choices.

Part D: Creating Histograms

Step 1.

Introduce the next activity by asking students to describe a histogram. If students do not recall what a histogram is, use the following explanation as a guide:

Step 2.

Provide each student with a copy of the Histograms Factsheet or project it for the class to see. Explain to students that the Australian Bureau of Statistics is a fantastic place to find raw data about all aspects of Australian society. The data used in this activity will be taken from data cubes that relate to homelessness in Australia. Data cubes about homelessness in Australia can be found here.

Step 3.

Read through the Histogram Factsheet that includes worked examples of how to manipulate data on the ABS website to calculate the mean, median and ranges of numerical data and how to create a histogram. Allow time for questions and clarifications to ensure students understand how to calculate and present each process.

Step 4.

After explaining the worked example, allow time for students to access the ABS data cubes about homelessness to find data relevant to their demographic. E.g. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, youth, older persons, disability, culturally and linguistically diverse, marginally housed and at risk of homelessness.

Encourage students to write or copy their data into a table so that they can use this data to investigate their demographic.

Creating tables digitally through programs such as Excel or Google Sheets can make it easier to calculate and present statistical information.

Step 5.

Once students have found suitable raw data, invite them to find the mean, median and range for at least two sets of data. You can refer students back to the histogram worked example if students are unsure on the steps.

Step 6.

Invite students to create a histogram, either by hand or electronically, that reflects their data sets about homelessness in Australia.

Once they have created their histogram, ask them to describe the data and record their responses under their graph. For example, is the data skewed, symmetric or bimodal? What does this data tell us about your demographic?

Step 7.

Now that students have found, manipulated and presented their data, ask them to re-join their original demographic groups to share histograms. Write the following prompt questions on the board to guide group discussions:

What are the similarities in the histograms?
What are the differences in the histograms?
What does this data tell us about your demographic?

Reflection

Step 1.

Once all groups have shared their data and histograms, ask students to refer back to the Colour – Symbol – Feeling thinking routine that they completed at the beginning of the class.

Step 2.

Invite students to think about what they have learnt about homelessness in this lesson and reflect on their original colour, symbol and feeling choices using the following prompt question:

How could I change my colour, symbol or feeling to reflect the positive changes of homelessness?

You may invite students to share their initial thinking and their new thinking.

Differentiated Learning

Extension

1. Invite students to create an infographic to inform their peers and the wider school community about issues facing the homeless using statistics. To ensure students know what an infographic is and how homelessness statistics can be presented using visual representations, provide examples such as Homelessness Australia. Students can use the data collected in Part C and the histogram created in Part D in their infographic poster.

An infographic is a collection of images, charts, drawings, and minimal text that gives an easy-to-understand overview of a topic. They are designed to use striking, engaging visuals to communicate information quickly and clearly.

There are many tools available online to create great infographics such as Canva and Piktochart. Click here to find out more.

2. Consider posing the following question to students:

Where does data actually come from?

Invite students to suggest their responses through class discussion. You could also use this question to guide further inquiry, with students exploring where data comes from, for example the source of the data, how it's collected, and the constraints of trying to collect data about homelessness.

Provisions for Learning Support - Provide students with ABS data sets that are suitable for each demographic. You also may choose to provide students with a copy of the worked example that shows each step in finding the mean, median and range.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Life After The Oasis - Using Histograms To Explore Homelessness

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