Data Scientists in the Classroom

Many science teachers have had the experience of students attempting to generate the “correct” data that they think the teacher wants. This unfortunately leads to a common practice of students copying data from others or even fabricating it themselves. The goal of this ETP is to push students to accept their data as is and shift their focus from generating “correct” data to deeply analyzing the raw data and understanding its implications. The skills can then be applied to any lab report where students need to analyze their data/determine trends. “Analyzing and Interpreting Data” is also one of the eight Science and Engineering Practices outlined by the Next Generation Science Standards. The ability to turn data sets into graphs as well as identify significant patterns/trends is an essential skill for success in any science course. The purpose of this ETP is to teach students digital data analysis skills as well as create a final slideshow where they share their graphs and major trends they identified. The ETP will be designed to be distance-learning friendly, so will rely heavily on Google Suite but can easily be implemented in a traditional classroom with access to devices for each student.