Cover lesson · PE · Year 9 · Intermediate
LNF: Numeracy → Learning that statistics represent data and that probability models chance helps us make informed inferences and decisions → Interpreting data
Name: Class: Date:
What this practises: interpreting fitness data. GCSE Physical Education and Health (Made for Wales) Unit 2 asks pupils to measure their fitness, make “comparisons to normative data” and analyse their results to find strengths and areas to improve. Pupils rate an invented pupil’s test results against a norms table, find the mean, median and range of a class data set, calculate percentage improvement after a training plan, and judge how far the data can be trusted. This is a numeracy lesson: nobody exercises today and pupils stay seated.
Print: this sheet, one per pupil, and the stimulus sheet “Lowri’s fitness tests: results and norms”, one between two. Pupils need a calculator. No computers are needed; the class data is also in class-sit-and-reach-results.csv.
Run: 5 min read the pack in pairs · 10 min Step 2, rate Lowri · 10 min Step 3, the class data · 10 min Step 4, progress · 10 min Step 5, can we trust it? · 10 min Step 6, the analysis, alone. Total 55 minutes.
Collect: this sheet. Checks you can make: the class median is 25 cm, the mean is 24.9 cm, and the frequency column in Step 3 must add up to 15.
A fitness test result on its own does not tell you much. Is 27 cm in the sit and reach good? You find out by comparing it with normative data: results from lots of people of the same age and sex. You will rate Lowri’s results, compare her with her class, measure her progress after a 6-week plan, and decide what she should train next.
Read sections 1 to 5 with your partner. Circle the sentence that says a lower sprint time is better. Underline anything in Lowri’s notes that might have changed her results.
Use the norms table. Then rank the tests from 1 (her biggest strength) to 4 (her biggest weakness). If two ratings are the same, look at where each result sits inside its band.
| Test | Week 1 result | Rating | Rank (1 to 4) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sit and reach | 27 cm | ||
| 30 m sprint | 5.6 s | ||
| Standing broad jump | 165 cm | ||
| Sit-ups in 60 s | 30 |
Lowri’s sit-up score is exactly on a boundary. Which rating does it get, and how do you know?
(a) Write the 15 sit and reach results in order, smallest first.
(b) Work out the averages and the spread.
| Working | Answer | |
|---|---|---|
| Median | ||
| Mean (to 1 decimal place) | ||
| Range |
(c) Use the norms table to count how many girls in the class get each rating.
| Rating | Tally | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Excellent (30 or more) | ||
| Above average (25 to 29) | ||
| Average (20 to 24) | ||
| Below average (15 to 19) | ||
| Poor (14 or less) | ||
| Total |
(d) What percentage of the class is rated Above average or Excellent? Is Lowri above or below the class mean and median?
Work out the change from week 1 to week 7 and the percentage change (change ÷ week 1 result × 100), to 1 decimal place. For the sprint, a fall in time is an improvement.
| Test | Week 1 | Week 7 | Change | Percentage change | Week 7 rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sit and reach | 27 cm | 28 cm | |||
| 30 m sprint | 5.6 s | 5.3 s | |||
| Standing broad jump | 165 cm | 172 cm | |||
| Sit-ups in 60 s | 30 | 36 |
Which test improved most in percentage terms? Does that match her training plan?
(a) Read Lowri’s notes again. Give 2 reasons why some of her improvement might not be a real gain in fitness.
(b) Give 1 limitation of comparing anyone with a norms table.
On your own. Write an analysis of Lowri’s fitness in 80 to 120 words. Name her biggest strength and weakness with ratings, describe her progress with at least 2 percentages, say what she should train next and why, and include one limitation of the data.