In partnership with the University of Mount Union and their Sit Lux STEMcoding grant, in summer 2021 there was a big effort to create an activity called Data Science: Earth Day in which students create a simple model of the change in temperature at their location through the course of the year and then add a shift to that model to see the impact of climate change.
The activity is an important milestone for us for many reasons. The videos (which are also also available on our youtube channel) were recorded in front of a green screen studio at the University of Mount Union, which is the first time we have released a video series without using OSU’s recording studios.
Another key aspect of the activity that makes it unique is that because of the interdisciplinary subject, it can fit nicely into an environmental science, earth science, math or computer science course. Most of the activities we have created thus far have been for physics or astronomy.
The activity is also a shift for us as we build more high school level content for Data Science. There is a great deal of interest both nationally and in Ohio in having more high school students take data science courses and Data Science: Earth Day is a good example of what we think is appropriate for this level.
Finally, we are excited to submit the activity to hourofcode.com where it will hopefully be our sixth activity there. We get emails from educators around the world who find our content there!