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What factors make some people live longer than others? Are more expensive restaurants really better? Is voter fraud a problem? What data would you need to gather to answer these questions, and how would you measure that data to get your answer? Answering real questions in the world involves analyzing datasets, from sports stats to food sales to census information.

In Bootstrap:Data Science, students form their own questions about the world around them, analyze data using multiple methods, and write a research paper about their findings. The module covers functions, looping and iteration, data visualization, linear regression, and more. There are a variety of implementation options, ranging from a 1-week intro to a full-year course!

Social studies, science, and business teachers can utilize this module to help students make inferences from data. Math teachers can use this module to introduce foundational concepts in statistics, and it is aligned to National and State Standards for Mathematics, the Next Generation Science Standards, and the Data standards in CS Principles. In fact, the final project in Bootstrap:Data Science can be used as the Create Task for AP CS Principles!

(Many people ask "why can’t we just use spreadsheets? Why add programming to all this?" This is a great question, and we’ve been thinking about it since 2016. Read more…​)

Teaching Remotely?

If you’re teaching remotely, we’ve assembled an Implementation Notes page that makes specific recommendations for in-person v. remote instruction.

Ordering Student Workbooks?

While we give our workbooks away as a PDF (see below), we understand that printing them yourself can be expensive! You can purchase beautifully-bound copies of the student workbook from Lulu.com. Click here to order.

We provide all of our materials free of charge, to anyone who is interested in using our lesson plans or student workbooks.

Lesson Plans

Introduction to Computational Data Science

Students are introduced to the Animals Dataset, learn about Tables, Categorical and Quantitative data, and consider the kinds of questions that can be asked about a dataset.

Simple Data Types

Students begin to program in Pyret, learning about basic data types, operations, and value definitions.

Contracts

Students learn how to apply Functions in the programming environment, encounter Image data types, and learn how to interpret the information contained in a Contract: Name, Domain and Range.

Displaying Categorical Data

Students learn to apply functions to entire Tables, generating pie charts and bar charts. They then explore other plotting and display functions that are part of the Data Science library.

Data Displays and Lookups

Students continue to practice making different kinds of data displays, this time focusing less on programming and more on using displays to answer questions. They also learn how to extract individual rows from a table, and columns from a row.

Table Methods

Students learn about table methods, which allow them to order, filter, and build columns to extend the animals table.

Defining Functions

Students discover functions as an abstraction over a programming pattern, and are introduced to a structured approach to building them called the Design Recipe.

Defining Table Functions

Students explore using multiple representations of functions to solve word problems involving Data Rows, using a process called the Design Recipe.

Method Chaining

Students continue practicing their Design Recipe skills, making lots of simple functions dealing with the Animals Dataset. Then they learn how to chain Methods together, and define more sophisticated subsets.

If-Expressions

Students build on their knowledge of the image-scatter-plot function, motivating the need for if-expressions in their programming toolkit. This drives deeper insight into subgroups within a population, and motivates the need for more advanced analysis.

Randomness and Sample Size

Students learn about random samples and statistical inference, as applied to the Animals Dataset. In the process, students get a light introduction to the role of sample size and the importance of statistical inference.

Grouped Samples

Students learn about grouped samples, and practice creating them from the Animals Dataset. In the process, they practice using the Design Recipe to create filter functions, and come up with questions they wish to explore.

Choosing Your Dataset

Students summarize their dataset by exploring the data and identifying categorical and quantitative columns, data types, and more. They also define a few sample rows, random subsets, and logical subsets.

Histograms

Students explore new visualizations in Pyret, this time focusing on the distribution in a quantitative dataset. Students are introduced to Histograms by comparing them to bar charts, and learn to construct them by hand and in Pyret.

Visualizing the “Shape” of Data

Students explore the concept of "shape", using histograms to determine whether a dataset has skewness, and what the direction of the skewness means. They apply this knowledge to the Animals Dataset, and then to their own.

Measures of Center

Students learn different ways to report the center of a quantitative data set: mean, median and mode(s). After applying these concepts to a contrived dataset, they apply them to their own datasets and interpret the results.

Spread of a Data Set

Students learn how to evaluate the spread of a quantitative column using box plots, and explore how this offers a different perspective on shape from what can be achieved with a histogram. After applying these concepts to a contrived dataset, they apply them to their own datasets and interpret the results.

Checking Your Work

Students consider the concept of trust and testing — how do we know if a particular analysis is trustworthy?

Scatter Plots

Students investigate scatter plots as a method of visualizing the relationship between two quantitative variables.

Correlations

Students continue to interpret scatter plots, and think about direction and strength of linear relationships.

Linear Regression

Students compute the “line of best fit” using linear regression, and summarize linear relationships in a dataset.

Ethics and Privacy

Students consider ethical issues and privacy in the context of data science.

Threats to Validity

Students consider possible threats to the validity of their analysis.

All the lessons

This is a single page that contains all the lessons listed above.

Other Resources

Of course, there’s more to a curriculum than software and lesson plans! We also provide a number of resources to educators, including standards alignment, a complete student workbook, an answer key for the programming exercises and a forum where they can ask questions and share ideas.

  • Glossary — A list of vocabulary words used in this pathway.

  • Standards Alignment — Find out how our materials align with Common Core Content and Practice Standards, as well as the TEK and CSTA Standards.

  • Student Workbook — Sometimes, the best way for students to get real thinking done is to step away from the keyboard! Our lesson plans are tightly integrated with the Student Workbook, allowing for paper-and-pencil practice and activities that don’t require a computer.

  • Teacher-Only Resources — We also offer several teachers-only materials, including an answer key to the student workbook, a quick-start guide to making the final project, and pre- and post-tests for teachers who are participating in our research study. For access to these materials, please fill out the password request form. We’ll get back to you soon with the necessary login information.

  • Online Community (Discourse) — Want to be kept up-to-date about Bootstrap events, workshops, and curricular changes? Want to ask a question or pose a lesson idea for other Bootstrap teachers? These forums are the place to do it.

These materials were developed partly through support of the National Science Foundation, (awards 1042210, 1535276, 1648684, and 1738598). CCbadge Bootstrap:Data Science by the Bootstrap Community is licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 Unported License. This license does not grant permission to run training or professional development. Offering training or professional development with materials substantially derived from Bootstrap must be approved in writing by a Bootstrap Director. Permissions beyond the scope of this license, such as to run training, may be available by contacting contact@BootstrapWorld.org.