How the Tour de France has helped me…

Everywhere I look there are yellow bikes heralding the arrival of Le Grand Tour. I live in Yorkshire and we are days away from the race. Reminders are everywhere!Students are talking about it and to join in with the theme ( and encourage some engagement on what can be quite a dry topic) I’ve used the cycle race to get across the levels of measurement for A2 research methods.

It’s a simple idea but seems to have been effective. It also worked for the Olympics a couple of years ago.

I use a bird’s eye view of the finish line on the board. It includes 6 cyclists in the race. A pack of three at the front and the last pack some way behind.

I then talk through how you can describe/ classify the results.

Firstly there’s nominal data….the first pack through the line are ‘Fast’, the last pack are ‘Slow’. A crude measure. Obviously they aren’t slow if competing at that level, but it puts the idea across.

Then there’s ordinal data…1^st , 2^nd 3^rd etc. but this gives no indication of how close they finish.

Lastly, you give all the competitors times. That provides the ratio data. By far and away the most detailed.

Anyone have any other methods for teaching this part of the course? Please share if you do! Mine is only going to last one year…unless there’s another sporting event next summer I can use?!Suggestions please!