Teaching and Learning Data Science in Data Science Courses

In the Classroom
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Please reflect on and share something about your experience teaching and learning data science in college-level courses specifically tailored to data science. Some starting points for reflection may include:

  • What first sparked your interest in data science? Have you been able to infuse your classwork with that same interest?
  • What successes did you (or your students) experience with learning or mastering a topic?
  • What was your favorite activity, lesson, or project?
  • What did you (or your students) struggle to learn or master? Why do you think that happened?
  • Did you feel like you “belonged” in the course? Why or why not?

Instructors, please do not publicly call out your students or other instructors by name; use “one of my students” or “another instructor” and people who know or need to know will figure it out. This forum is indexed publicly by search engines, and damage to someone’s reputation may extend far beyond this community. Similarly, students, please do not publicly call out your instructors or fellow students by name. You have no expectation of anonymity; please reserve sharp criticism for student evaluations.

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I became interested in Data Science through the publications I subscribe to and read. I continued to see more information about data science and was unfamiliar with several of the terms used when describing projects using data science. As a result I wanted to see what this was all about.
Upon doing further research into ‘What is data science?’ (I still don’t have a definitive answer!), I discovered the vast areas of application and the similarities and differences between data science and statistics (my background). I also noticed the explosion of interest and jobs for data scientists. I thought this would be an exciting area to explore in order to share with my students.
I hope I have been able to share by excitement about data science with my students. I had the opportunity to take my students to a data science conference with only student presenters. This was an amazing experience for my students to see what data science looks like in the ‘real world’. I am constantly looking for ways to bring data science to my students and giving them opportunities to explore and find their ‘data science passion!’

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Thanks for sharing, Caroline! I don’t have a definitive answer to ‘What is data science?’ either, and that’s certainly a challenge when we try to teach these courses. I also think we underestimate the “data science skills” that we already have from being trained in a related discipline, and I think we can sometimes do the same with our students. It sounds like bringing your students to the conference was an opportunity for them to not just see the ‘real world’ of data science but also to see what is possible for them to achieve in the next few years.

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