Statistics Sometimes Always Never

In a series of engaging starter activities for Year 5 students studying statistics, the "Sometimes, Always, Never" exercise is designed to deepen their understanding of statistical concepts. In this activity, children are presented with various statements about graphs and data representation. They are tasked with determining whether each statement is 'sometimes', 'always', or 'never' true. This exercise not only promotes critical thinking but also encourages students to use mathematical vocabulary and engage with key concepts in a practical way.

The teacher guidance suggests that children should support their decisions by finding examples or counterexamples for each statement. For statements that are deemed 'sometimes' true, children are challenged to explain the conditions under which the statements hold true. They are also encouraged to creatively modify these 'sometimes' statements to make them 'always' true or 'never' true, further enhancing their conceptual understanding. Statements cover a range of topics, such as the uniformity of intervals on graph axes, starting points of scales on line graphs, the nature of lines joining data points, the comparison between tables and line graphs, the type of data used in line graphs, and the ordering of information in timetables.