Data science for kids (and how to deal with trolls)

As data science becomes the latest and greatest 21st-century field, it's now available to kids.

Here are free lesson plans and resources, if you're curious: Data Science Lessons--the below example presents social media data, in this case on the number of American teens who use TikTok.

Last summer, I took an online education course on data analytics at Stanford, and learned about Jo Boaler. 

I hit a wall with math in the 8th grade, when I went to a new, seriously more challenging school. Suddenly, I wasn't "good" at math anymore, at least compared to my classmates. It was a time and a feeling that stuck with me. I had to get a tutor at school, and remember my shame at not being able to easily rattle off answers. Things just took longer for me. I had to figure out other methods to solve things--and felt rushed, incapable. 

My daughter was essentially homeschooled last year--and I was the teacher. She had been doing a Singapore math program in first grade, and before that, a Montessori-like Kindergarten math curriculum with lots of concretizing wooden counters like beads, spindles, and number cards. It was so much more flexible than my early math education, which consisted of rote memorization of facts and tables. (I really don't remember much at all, beyond that.) 

Moving into temporary homeschooling late last summer, and remembering my own math wall so acutely, I was terrified of screwing up or wreaking havoc on her already solid foundation. So I dove headlong into finding the best resources I could for teaching math, and found Jo Boaler, a math educator and Stanford professor. Her method, in my experience, is terrific. Boaler advocates for deep, slow, flexible thinking, and is adamant that everyone can learn and be at good at math. 

(Sold!)

I've continued to follow Boaler's Twitter account, @joboaler:


Earlier this summer, I reached out and told her how grateful I was, basically, with a few words on Twitter. She had been going through a doubtful moment, having been attacked on camera--of all people!--by a certain polarizing media figure. It reminds me of what Simone Biles is having to tolerate in Tokyo and online, and yet discover and witness, too, i.e., that overwhelming support from fans. Boaler was stunned, I think, but only for a moment--she bounced back with a post of Taylor Swift's Brit Awards acceptance speech, which basically talked about how to keep going, even when the trolls of the world try to bring you down.

Here's the YouTube video. Like Boaler says, "listen to the end of her speech--you'll be glad you did." 💜


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