Examining the Influence of Tool Selection on Curriculum Design for Data Science Education (Poster 26)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: Advanced Technologies for Learning SIG Poster Session: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in Education (San Diego)

Abstract

This study examines the relative benefits and drawbacks of implementing one popular high school Data Science curriculum, Introduction to Data Science (“IDS”; Gould et al., 2016), using RStudio and Google Sheets respectively. We analyze curriculum materials and are conducting ongoing interviews with curriculum developers to address the question: What is the impact of different tool genres on how curricula introduce and operationalize key practices of data science? Informed by literature in statistics education, data science education, and the learning sciences, we find differential support for the data investigative cycle and enacting key transformations and analyses on data and little support from either tool/curriculum for documenting process, context, and rationale.

Authors

• Baturay Koyuncu, University of California - Los Angeles

• Michelle Hoda Wilkerson, University of California - Berkeley