In 2020, the South Big Data Hub provided a mid-size S.E.E.D.S Grant of $10,000 the Urban Institute.  The project was titled, "Data4Kids: Virtually Teaching Kids about Data Science'.  The project partners include:

The Urban Institute, Washington,DC + Seven K12 Organizations (UTeach Outreach, TX; K12 Education Manager, ESRI, VA; GoodGeo.BuenMundo SC; K-12 Education Strategy, Policy, and Services, Texas and Georgia; Launch Years Course Programs Texas and Georgia; University of Memphis, Tennessee; Pathway.ai, Texas

At the primary and secondary levels, there are few resources that specifically teach data science (we use the term data science to include data analysis and data visualization). Facing the COVID pandemic that forced many people into remote work, in March 2020, we launched the Data@Urban Digital Discussion series, a daily video conversation with leaders in the data science field. In May 2020, the Digital Discussion series focused exclusively on four days teaching data science to children including how to create data visualizations, code online, design map projections, and how to collect and analyze data. More than 200 children from around the world attended these one-hour live sessions. Given the success of this series, we propose to launch a website that contains guides, videos, and other content to assist educators and instructors on teaching data science to their students.

This project believes educators are seeking to supplement their curriculum or to learn tips to teaching data science activities in the virtual environment will find this webpage an invaluable resource, especially in the ongoing remote environment. Our overall objective is to create a webpage that contains data science activities.

The project has produced data stories that include a series of educational resources around a different topic area. 

Each story contains a starter kit of educators at different levels (e.g., grades 3-5; grades 6-8; and grades 9-12) and provide four primary components:

• Data in Microsoft Excel, CSV, and Google Sheet formats
• Data Dictionary in Microsoft Word and Google Doc formats
• Teaching slides in Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides formats
• Instructor Guides that provide additional teaching resources and notes for each story

Visit the Data4Kids: Virtually Teaching Kids about Data Science' webpage for more information.