Turning a vague comparison into a question with a data answer

What to assume they know

Reading a small two-row table of numbers
Class 6 Ganita Prakash: collecting and tallying data, and drawing a simple bar graph from it
When an approximate answer is the better answer — the idea that an approximate answer can be the more useful one, and that "about" is not a failure of precision
Knowing that a rupees-per-kilogram price can change from month to month
Being able to say what would have to be measured to test a claim

What they should be able to do

Distinguish a statistical question from one that a single look-up answers
Explain why variation, not arithmetic, is the test that separates the two
Recognise a statistical statement in ordinary speech and say what group of cases the number in it is standing for
Rewrite a vague comparison ("where are onions costlier?") as a question that names what would be collected
Judge, for a given question, whether one observation settles it or a whole collection has to be gathered and summarised
Say what the word statistics covers — the five activities the chapter lists
Explain why a statistical answer can be right and still be wrong about an individual case

Where it usually goes wrong

"A statistical question is any question with a number for an answer." The cost of one tennis ball in one shop is a number and needs no data at all; what a tennis ball costs across the country is a spread. The number is not the test — variation is.
"If the answer varies, the question is badly asked." Backwards. Variation is the reason the question is worth data. The chapter chooses onion prices precisely because they move.
"'Men are taller than women' means every man is taller than every woman." The chapter's opening guess is only defensible as a statement about what is common. This is the single most important thing to fix early, because the same error returns twice more in the chapter — once about a Class 5 classroom (Part II, §5.2, p.110) and once about girls of a given age (Part II, §5.4, p.127).
"Statistics means calculating averages." The chapter's own list has five activities and only one of them is arithmetic. Presenting the data is on the list; so is deciding what to collect.
"A question about a single person can't be statistical." "Do you like reading?" put to one person is a single fact. Put to a class it is a spread. The wording alone does not decide it — who is being asked about does.
"Collecting data settles the question for good." The chapter's habit is the opposite: every finished analysis in it is followed by a page of new questions. Flag this now; Why every answer from data raises the next question is built on it.

Questions to check understanding

Given a list of questions, mark which are statistical and justify each by naming what varies
Rewrite a non-statistical question so that it becomes statistical (and the reverse — narrow a statistical question until one observation answers it)
Given a statistical statement, state what data would have to have been collected to support it
"Why can this question not be answered by asking one person / looking at one day / measuring one object?"
Identify the group of cases a stated average refers to — the standard trap is a statement whose number is attached to the wrong group
Explain why a claim that is true on average can be false for a named individual

Examples worth working on the board

The two friends (Part II, §5.1, p.97). Inputs: one friend is 5 feet tall, the other 6 feet. The reader is asked to guess which is the woman and which the man. The chapter's own point is that the common guess is defensible because 5-foot men and 6-foot women are uncommon, not because the rule is exact.
The six speech bubbles (Part II, §5.1, p.97). Checked against p.97; they are set as artwork inside a yellow panel. In paraphrase, the six are: a batter has been consistent all year, so a century is expected tomorrow; a cycle ride to school takes roughly a quarter of an hour; a pen will probably last a fortnight more; a village has lost roughly a hundred people over ten years; eating more fruit and vegetables has added two kilometres to a daily run; a boy spends about seven hours a day at school.
The two example questions (Part II, §5.1, p.98). Inputs: "how tall are Class 7 students in our school?" and "are onions typically costlier in Yahapur or in Wahapur?" Both are named as statistical questions and for the same stated reason — the values differ from student to student and from month to month.
The seven-question sorting list (Part II, §5.1, "Math Talk", p.98). Checked against p.98. In paraphrase the seven ask: what a tennis ball costs across the country; the ages of the dogs living on one street; what share of your class enjoys walking uphill; whether you like reading; roughly how many bricks a particular wall contains; who bowled best in yesterday's match; what Barmer's rainfall pattern was last year. No answers are printed with the list, on that page or anywhere later in the file — checked against the printed page p.98 and against the printed page the SUMMARY page and the closing puzzle page (pp.134–135), which is where an answer block would sit. Treat the sorting as reasoning added here and say so.
The five verbs of statistics (Part II, §5.1, p.98). Inputs: collecting, organising, analysing, interpreting, presenting. Use them as the spine of a five-step figure — the chapter itself walks them in that order across §5.2 to §5.4.
The hand-off into §5.2 (Part II, §5.2, p.98). Input: two batters' scores over four matches — Shubman 0, 17, 21, 90; Yashasvi 67, 55, 18, 35. Checked against p.98. Do not resolve it here; this topic ends at the moment the question is posed, and The arithmetic mean as fair-share picks it up.

Figures to have open

Two plain human silhouettes measured against a vertical scale marked in feet. Standard schematic; must not be gendered by clothing or hair, because the guess is the point.
Six short claim-cards, redrawn. The book's own artwork is a coloured speech-bubble cluster; redraw rather than lift it, keeping all six.
One number line carrying a dozen scattered values, reusable in section 7 for both the height and the price example. Standard schematic — the dot plot proper is not introduced until §5.2, so keep this loose and unlabelled.
The two-row, four-column score table that closes the topic. Standard schematic; the values are given above.
No figure needs to be taken from the textbook.

Where this sits in the book

NCERT Ganita Prakash, Class 7, Part II, printed Chapter 5, "Connecting the Dots...", §5.1 "Of Questions and Statements", pp.97–98. The opening of §5.2 (p.98) is used only as the hand-off.
Source file gegp205.pdf / gegp205.txt, printed pp.97–135. PDF page 1 is printed page 97; the offset is 96 throughout.
Forward pointers inside this chapter: §5.2, Part II, pp.98–113 (representative values); §5.4, Part II, pp.125–134 (what data does and does not license).