R for Middle Schoolers
In this project, we developed an 8-session introductory data science course for middle grades (ages 11 – 13), and observed how participants learned data science practices and processes through the combination of non-programming activities and programming activities using the language R. We designed activities that were learner-centered and allowed students to create “objects-to-think-with” such as R code or visual data representations. The curriculum was designed as an interdisciplinary approach between statistics and computer programming. One app that we designed, the Effect Size Sandbox, allows learners to tinker with different parameters that calculate effect size and to visualize the differences between two samples of data.
The first half of the course was an introduction to data science that aimed to enhance statistical thinking and help students understand how data can be used to gain information. The last half of the course was dedicated to a final project in which students identified existing, publicly available data sets and analyzed their data using R. Students then presented their projects in an expo-style format on the last day in which their parents and family were invited to attend.