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Teacher guide — Grade 8, Unit 8: Data and people

Time: 3 lessons + project (about 5 periods). Track: A (no-code).

# Lesson Time
1 Who is missing? 40–45 min
2 Privacy and sensitive data 40–45 min
3 Fair or unfair? 40–45 min
P Unit project: Our data charter 2 periods

Before you start

  • Materials: Short case cards (printed), chart paper.
  • Read docs/pedagogy/lesson-anatomy.md and docs/pedagogy/ai-use-policy.md.

If you have no computers / no internet

All eight units run on paper, calculators and the blackboard. Computers are optional (spreadsheet or CODAP, https://codap.concord.org); every activity below has a paper version.

Common misconceptions

  • "If it is anonymous it can't hurt anyone." Small groups can still be identified.
  • "Data are neutral." Who collects, what is asked and who answers all shape data.

Differentiation

  • Support: give a partially filled table / sentence starters; pair with a data-steward role.
  • Stretch: ask "what would change your conclusion?" and "who is missing?"

Answer key (check questions)

Lesson 1: Who is missing? 1. Who might an online poll miss?
Answer: People without internet or devices. 2. Why does missing data matter?
Answer: It can make the results unrepresentative and decisions unfair. 3. How could you include more people?
Answer: Use several methods: paper, in person, visits.

Lesson 2: Privacy and sensitive data 1. Give two sensitive data fields.
Answer: e.g. family income, religion, disability, health, exact home location. 2. What does 'collect only what you need' mean?
Answer: Do not ask for things your question doesn't require. 3. Small group, 'anonymous' data — risk?
Answer: People may still be recognised, e.g. 'the only girl who cycles from ward 4'.

Lesson 3: Fair or unfair? 1. Name one question to ask about any data-based decision.
Answer: Who is missing / who benefits / who could be harmed / how was it collected. 2. Is data always neutral?
Answer: No: choices in collecting and measuring shape it. 3. Write one rule for our class data charter.
Answer: e.g. never share names; always ask consent.

Assessment

Starter quiz each lesson (3 questions, one recalling the previous lesson); unit quiz in quiz.yml; project marked with the rubric in docs/pedagogy/assessment.md; 2-minute oral check per group.

Alignment

Extends the Grade 8 compulsory Maths statistics chapter (pie chart, mean, median, mode) with question-forming, data collection and interpretation.

Answers: practice exercises

  1. e.g. people without smartphones (older, poorer), people outside Kathmandu, people who do not read the survey language, people working during survey hours.
  2. Sensitive: HIV status, citizenship number, home GPS location. Not usually: shoe size, cricket team, siblings. e.g. HIV status can lead to stigma and discrimination.
  3. Combine individual rows into group totals or summaries: "26 of 36 walk" instead of each student's row.
  4. The only Tamang-speaking student is identifiable by anyone in the class, and their travel mode is revealed. Fix: drop mother tongue (not needed for a travel question) or merge small groups into "other".
  5. Home births are missing; the count is too low, especially in remote areas. Other sources: health-post records, female community health volunteers, vital registration at the ward office, surveys.
  6. (1) School, to encourage attendance. (2) Days present, not reasons for absence (illness, work, distance, floods). (3) Students with long journeys or family duties. (4) Benefits: regular attenders; harmed: students absent for reasons outside their control. (5) Is there an appeal process? A fairer rule allows documented exceptions.
  7. That high mountains are dry or wet in a particular way, when there is simply no measurement there; maps that interpolate may show invented values.
  8. Help: early support, counselling, scholarships to those at risk. Harm: labelling students, lower expectations, errors for unusual cases, privacy leaks, punishing distance (rural students).
  9. e.g. computers in the lab: the same 1 hour per student per week vs extra hours for students with no computer at home.
  10. Check for consent, privacy, honesty, missing people, safe storage.

Real-data exercises: notes

  • R1 Census 2021 reported an absent population of about 2.2 million (check the results page for the exact value and definition). Counting them matters for remittances, labour and planning; still missed: people who left the whole household, irregular migrants, people the respondent forgets.
  • R2 In many municipalities OSM is good for roads and patchy for buildings and services. Discuss "unmapped is not absent".
  • R3 Most stations are in the Hill and Terai, few at high altitude. Statements about "Nepal's rainfall" really describe places where stations exist.