reSolve: Mathematical modelling – How risky is life?

In this unit of work, students explore the risks of dying unexpectedly from various causes. They start from their own fears and, by comparing them with Australian Bureau of Statistics data, recognise that these are often unfounded and sometimes driven by the media. Students learn how to calculate the risks involved for various activities and how these are related to the base risk of death for people of different ages and genders. The emphasis is on order-of-magnitude comparisons, reflecting the various kinds of variation in risk level between individuals and over time.

Additional details
Year level(s)	Year 9
Audience	Teacher
Purpose	Teaching resource
Teaching strategies and pedagogical approaches	Mathematics investigation
Keywords	risk, modelling, statistical frequency, variables
Curriculum alignment
Curriculum connections	Numeracy
Strand and focus	Probability, Statistics, Number, Build understanding, Apply understanding
Topics	Chance and probability, Data representation and interpretation
AC: Mathematics content descriptions	ACMSP283 Compare data displays using mean, median and range to describe and interpret numerical data sets in terms of location (centre) and spread ACMSP226 Calculate relative frequencies from given or collected data to estimate probabilities of events involving 'and' or 'or' ACMSP228 Identify everyday questions and issues involving at least one numerical and at least one categorical variable, and collect data directly and from secondary sources ACMSP228 Identify everyday questions and issues involving at least one numerical and at least one categorical variable, and collect data directly and from secondary sources
National numeracy learning progression	Interpreting and representing data - IRD5
Copyright details
Organisation	ReSolve: Maths by Inquiry
Copyright	© Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment 2021. Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0.