Community statistics · Maths CAS idea
How reliable is the local bus?
Service
Record scheduled and actual times for a bus route that students use, and share the analysis with the school or a transport users' group.
Where the maths comes in
Distributions of delays, medians, percentiles and probability of being late.
Which CAS strand it fits
- Service: Unpaid, voluntary work with others that also has a learning benefit for you.
Your CAS coordinator decides how an experience counts at your school. Strand summaries are provisional (our words, being checked).
How to run it
- Choose a route and a sampling plan.
- Record times over several weeks (with others to share the load).
- Summarise delays with suitable statistics.
- Share findings with a group that can use them.
How to evidence it
- Data log
- Analysis
- Who you shared it with and their response
Date everything and keep it in your school's CAS portfolio as you go. More on what counts as evidence.
Reflection prompts
Questions to think about, not answers to copy. Write your reflections in your own words, in whatever form your school accepts.
- How did you organise others to collect data consistently?
- What does 'reliable' mean, and how did you measure it?
- What did you learn about transport in your area?
Learning outcomes this often gives a chance to show
- Collaboration. What did someone else bring that you could not have done alone? Describe a disagreement or a mix-up in the team. How was it resolved?
- Commitment and perseverance. When did you feel like stopping, and what kept you going? What does your record of sessions or meetings show about how regularly you took part?
- Global significance. How does the local need you worked on connect to a wider issue? What did you learn about that issue that you did not know before?
Whether you meet an outcome depends on what you actually do and reflect on, not on the idea. Outcome labels are our short summaries, being checked.
Safety and ethics
- Collect data from public places in pairs, never alone after dark.
Agree every plan with your CAS coordinator first. Safety and ethics for maths CAS.
Need the statistics? The statistics guide (written for the IA) explains tests and charts step by step. Keep CAS and your IA separate.