Data Explorers – Asking Questions about Coronavirus
One of the first learning areas we explore within our data science curriculum is questions. We encourage young people to use question words to find more depth in data. For example you might ask someone what programs did you watch last week? This question uses a single question word and the answer is likely to be a list of tv programs.
However if you expand your question words you might ask
- How did you watch the program?
- When did you watch the program?
- Where were you when you watched it?
Adding these words means you go from getting a list of tv programs to much richer data which might help you understand the viewing habits of people in more detail.
Learning to ask questions of data fits in the the Analysis step of the PPDAC (Problem Plan Data Analysis Conclusion) framework that we use to teach children about data. Asking questions is also how our colleague Kate Farrell approached the idea of helping young people to understand coronavirus data. Watch the video below to find out more.
Followup Links
Kate made use of the following links:
- Coronavirus Data for Scotland
- Coronavirus Data from the Financial Times
- Coronavirus Data from Information is Beautiful
- The New York Times – What’s Going on in this Graph Series
- The New York Times – 7 ways to explore corona virus data
Data Explorers is our occasional blog series that aims to provide interesting ideas and discussion topics using data. Each video is 8 to 10 minutes long and aimed at teachers and other adults. We aim to consider diverse topic areas that can inspire activities and conversations with young people both in the classroom and at home.