A self-guided Desmos activity for exploring a real dataset, and using it to make sense of a real-world problem.
In this stand-alone Bootstrap:Data Science lesson students will explore data visualization, introductory programming using The Pyret Programming Language, and the application of Data Science to solve real problems. Students will investigate a data set of vehicle-wildlife collisions in Vermont and make recommendations about where to build wildlife overpasses.
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🔗Self-guided Desmos Activity
Let’s dig into some data and get your students programming through a self-guided Desmos activity!
Don’t worry - even if you and your students have no prior experience with code, this lesson is entirely accessible. All of the relevant code is provided for you in our Pyret programming environment. And most parts of the lesson come with a ★ Coding Challenge for students ready to dig in.
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Part 1 Wildlife Crossings Save Lives!
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Part 2 Introducing the dataset: Animal-Vehicle Collisions in Vermont - Notice and Wonder
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Part 3 Introducing the Pyret Programming Environment - Bar Chart / Pie Chart
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Part 4 Scatter Plots, Outliers & Human Error
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Part 5 More Pie Charts & Bar Charts
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Part 6 Comparing Subsets / Making Predictions Using Proportional Reasoning
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Part 7 Patterns in the Code - More Subsets & Pie Charts via filtering
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Part 8 Analyzing Scatter Plots using Rate of Change
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Part 9 Data-Informed Decision Making
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Part 10 Beyond the dataset - Making Connections - What else might we want to know?
There are ten parts of the lesson in total - but feel free to pick and choose the pieces that feel most relevant for you and your students…or start at the beginning and stop when you run out of class time! Each part of the activity should take under ten minutes, unless your students get very excited talking about this data. (How could you blame them?)
We are confident that students of all ages will enjoy dissecting this intriguing dataset as they dip their toes into a new programming language. Please note, however, that students in middle school will likely need guidance and support in working through the activity, whereas students in high school will likely be able complete the slides relatively independently.
🔗A note from Bootstrap
It seems like every week there’s another Data Science curriculum announced. Some are coding classes that sprinkle in a little math, and others are math classes that tack on a little coding. At Bootstrap, we create balanced curricula that blend these ingredients seamlessly so they support and reinforce one another!
Looking for more Hour of Code options from the Bootstrap Team? Visit Bootstrap: Hours of Code!
Want to learn more about our full Data Science Curriculum? Visit Bootstrap:Data Science!
These materials were developed partly through support of the National Science Foundation, (awards 1042210, 1535276, 1648684, 1738598, 2031479, and 1501927). 
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