In this activity children investigate whether there are more left-handed people in the population now than 100 years ago.
Description
Although left-handers currently form about 11 percent of the population, studies by scientists showed that only about 3 percent of those born in 1900 were left-handed. This evidence has been interpreted from a series of films made between 1897 and 1913. Researchers identified left-handed people from the arm they used to wave at the camera.
In this activity children will investigate whether there are more left-handed people in the population now than 100 years ago. They will decide which actions to observe to determine whether a person is right or left-handed. They will tally the number of left-handers in their sample and compare it to that of 3 in 100.
Learning Objective: - that people can be right-handed or left-handed
Children will demonstrate this by completing the task on page 2 successfully.
- that 'handedness' can be determined by observing actions
Children will demonstrate this by completing the task on page 3 successfully.
- how the ratio of left to right-handed people compares to 100 years ago
Children will demonstrate this by completing the task on page 4 successfully.
These resources were initially developed in partnership with the Centre for Science Education, Sheffield Hallam University.