Teaching teenagers about the importance of census data by actually conducting one in their school: A collaborative learner-centered approach

Abstract

Census data offer opportunities for every citizen to access rights and collaborate in a democratic society. Developing statistical literacy starting at school age can be a determinant for future critical citizenship as well as for future cooperation in responding to Census and other surveys. At the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), there is a National School of Statistical Sciences (ENCE). This paper is about an experience ENCE conducted with 12 to 13-year-old teenagers from a public school of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to design a census operation in their schools. The experience included an open doors event as a preparation for the census and some follow-up visiting rounds in the school to assist with the stages of the census operation itself, ending with the presentation of results in ENCE premises. The project was the result of the collaboration between IBGE’s official statisticians, ENCE statistics educators, ENCE undergraduate students and the public school teachers and teenagers. The teenagers were actively engaging in activities, protagonists of their learning experience, and willing to talk about the experience to their families, showing meaningful learning and empowerment.