Integrating Data Analysis Across the
Curriculum
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Integrating Data Analysis at the Community
College: Thinking about Introductory Courses
Presented by Katherine R. Rowell
Professor of Sociology
Sinclair Community College
November 2012
Agenda
• Introductions and Welcome
• Why integrate data analysis?
• What are challenges faced by community
college faculty or faculty teaching introductory
courses?
• Pedagogy and Integrating Data Analysis
• Examples and Resources
• Closing activity
Why Integrate Data Analysis?
• The majority of college students in the United
States are not exposed to data analysis until
their Junior and Senior year ( this is especially
true in liberal arts).
• Students typically statistics and research
methods near their end of their college careers.
• Evidence suggests that this process needs to
begin early and continue often throughout the
college learning experience.
• In other words, data analysis and exposure to
research should be integrated throughout.
Why continued…..
• Movement towards the importance of scientific literacy as a
core component of general education.
• Many disciplines are beginning to analyze this possibility.
The American Sociological Association and the Integrating
Data Analysis Project funded by National Science
Foundation.
• Chemistry and January 2001 publication in the Journal of
Chemical Education on the Data Driven Classroom
notes….the data driven classroom develops habits of
critical thinking not generally fostered in more traditional
approaches.
• Exposing students early and often to data just makes
sense and leads one to wonder “What took so long?”
• Community College Undergraduate Research Project
• http://www.ccuri.org/
5
Why? Student Benefits
• Quantitative literacy general education
outcome
• Critical thinking
• Piques student interest (The QUEST in
Question)… Why is this?
• Helps students connect see the SCIENCE
in social science
• Prepare them to live in a data driven world
6
Challenges to Integrating Data Analysis
in the Community College Classroom?
• What are some challenges you see with
integrating data analysis?
• Activity 1: Ask Participants to brainstorm
challenges and be prepared to share
back with group.
Challenges
• Time
• Academic Readiness of students
• “Math” anxiety on both part of student and/or
faculty
• Computer access
• Lack of awareness and/or access to
resources
• Other
Pedagogical Strategies
• Flipped Classroom Design
• Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology
Out of Your College Classroom Will
Improve Student Learning by Jose Antonio
Bowen, 2012.
• Teamwork
• Time on task
• Repetition
What types of integrating data analysis can
you do in an introductory course?
• Reading and interpreting tables, maps, and
graphs that are data based.
• Measures of Central Tendency
• Contingency tables
• Recognizing independent and dependent
variable in a table and stating a hypothesis in a
table
• Correlation recognition
• Depending on resources there may be other
things you can show in class
Resources and Activities
• Reading data visually is a good place to
start.
• There are numerous resources for looking
at data presented via tables, graphs, and
maps.
Activity 2
• Participants form pairs or groups and
share ways they are integrating data
analysis currently in their courses
• Ask participants to report out
Helping students see the importance
• Hans Rosling
• http://www.gapminder.org/videos/the-joy-ofstats/
• Ted Talks
• Local newspaper articles
• Student Success rates
• Unemployment rate
Activity #3
• Identifying and developing an integrating
data analysis module that you can use in
class
Websites noted in presentation
• http://www.gapminder.org/videos/the-joyof-stats/
• http://visualizingeconomics.com/blog/?mo
nth=november-2012
• http://www.worldometers.info/
• http://www.socialexplorer.com/pub/home/h
ome.aspx
• http://ssdan.net/datacounts/index.html
More websites
• http://www.censusscope.org/
• http://teachingwithdata.org/qssdl/welcome.
action
• http://www.thearda.com/learningcenter/
• http://serc.carleton.edu/index.html
• http://serc.carleton.edu/nnn/teaching/index
.html
Thank You!
• Questions or concerns?