Here I intend to describe how to get CensusAtSchool New Zealand data into Fathom, an excellent piece of software to explore data in.

(Younger classes may wish to use TinkerPlots, which has much of the same functionality but is aimed at younger students.)

1. First, we need to open Fathom. It should open up a blank Fathom document to get you started.

2. Second, open up your web browser. Because I’m using a Mac I have opened Safari. (If you’re reading this you most likely already have your web browser open. This is it. You’ve already done this step!)

3. On the CensusAtSchool New Zealand website, www.censusatschool.org.nz, click on the Random Sampler (2005).

Here is a short Conditions of use, followed by a form asking for details about the sample. How many students would you like to sample? Boys and girls, just boys, or just girls? Questions is which questions would you like to know. (Choosing all questions gives you all the questions from the survey which can be a bit overwhelming.)

4. Click the “Get Sample Data” button at the bottom.

5. Now you are presented with a few different files. Click and hold on the “Comma Separated” one, and drag that over to the Fathom window. Let go of the mouse button while in the Fathom window, and a new Collection will appear, containing the data.

6. Your sample is now in Fathom. Congratulations. Double-click on the Collection to see the cases. Add an expand a table to show you a variety of range of cases.

From here you can do what you wish. You can extend this by adding units to different attributes. For example, height, rightfoot, and armspan are all in centimetres.

In the Fathom Movies (under Help) there is a video called “Internet Import by Dragging the URL”. They demonstrate importing data from a website. However they drag the link (URL) from the address bar, not the link from the page.