21st Century Teaching and Learning: Data Science

Our new online course is designed to help anyone teach – and learn – with a 21st century approach to knowledge and teaching. Lesson 1 of the course shares important evidence we now have about the working of the brain, that is meaningful for all subjects and ages – and lives. We then move to thinking together about the data filled world in which we live, to prepare students for their future in a world of data.

The aim of a data science approach is not to add new standards or content to your teaching, it is about interacting with your content in a data science way – that is fun, interesting and creative. In the course you will experience lessons that you can take and use with your students, and you will see lots of classroom and lesson examples. Whether you are a kindergarten teacher, a high school history or maths teacher, an administrator or parent, or someone just curious about data science, there will be ideas for you.

The course is completely online and self-paced, so you can take it on your own time.  The course is taught by Jo Boaler and others on the youcubed team, and is taught through a pedagogy of active engagement. We encourage you to take it with friends and colleagues! A more detailed overview of the course is below and you can watch a preview here:

 

Course Enrollment

Click image below to enroll online

Lessons from Course

Download PDFs of the lessons

Animated Films from Course

Links to the films in Vimeo

What is Data Science?

A film by Women in Data Science

Steven Strogatz Interview from Course

In Conversation with Jo Boaler

Francis Su Interview from Course

In Conversation with Jo Boaler

Course Overview

Lesson 1: Being Limitless
  • Brain growth and change
  • Interview with Steve Strogatz (mathematician)
  • Students & classroom leaders who have embraced uncertainty
  • Carol Dweck’s latest thinking about mindset
  • Ways to approach mindset in your teaching to amplify the difference it can make
Lesson 2: What is Data Science?
  • What is data science?
  • Why is data science important?
  • Thought leaders & data science
  • Exploring a marine mammal data set
  • The women in data science movement
Lesson 3: Question Asking & Curiosity
  • Orienting our teaching to exploration & curiosity
  • Inspiring girls the youcubed way
  • Classroom examples
  • Interviews with Conrad Wolfram (mathematician) & Elena Grewal (data scientist)
Lesson 4. Looking for Patterns
  • Classroom examples
  • Finding patterns through colors and movement
  • Fluid & flexible minds
  • Interviews with Francis Su (mathematician) & Talithia Williams (data scientist)
Lesson 5. Data Explorations
  • Understanding data & graphs
  • Mean, mode, median & standard deviation – animated films
  • Learning about probability & data science
  • Lesson ideas K-12
Lesson 6. Communication & Data Visualization
  • The inter-disciplinary nature of data science
  • Encouraging & measuring respectful student collaborations
  • The beauty of data
  • Bringing a data science approach to your own teaching
  • A classroom example & classroom resources
  • Staying connected