About

CS Teacher: "Hey, you should try a computer science course next semester—I think you'd like it!"

Student #1: "Mm, I don't know... I'm going into a different major / career field."

Student #2: "Mm, I don't know... I don't have room in my schedule."

Student #3: "Mm, I don't know... I heard that computer science is hard."

Countless conversations like these have occurred during the course selection process. Schools and students can be slow to realize that computational thinking and quantitative literacy are essential 21st century skills that empower all students, regardless of their background or their intended college/career field. As educators, we must provide authentic, accessible, interdisciplinary, and personally relevant computer science and data science coursework to engage and empower all students.

Inspired by the outstanding Bootstrap Data Science Curriculum and the ubiquitous Hour of Code, these pilot Hour of Data activities provide untrained students and teachers with an accessible, inquiry-based, and interest-generating introduction to data science. As additional resources and interest grow, we hope to add new interdisciplinary Hour of Data activities to this site as we endeavor to broaden participation in STEM.

Special thanks to the dedicated educators and PLCs that have contributed both directly and indirectly to this Hour of Data project: Emmanuel Schanzer, Shriram Krishnamurthi, and the Bootstrap Community; Ralph Morelli, Pauline Lake, and the Mobile CSP Team; Jennifer Rosato and the NCCSE Team; Luther Tychonievich, Joanne Cohoon, Jim Cohoon, and the UVA Tapestry Workshops; NCWIT: National Center for Women & Information Technology; Jane Krauss and Counselors for Computing; Beryl Hoffman and the CSAwesome PLC; Michael Deslauriers, Joe Mazzone, and CSTA-RI; Betsy Dillard, Jackie Corricelli, Chinma Uche, and CSTA-CT; Vernon Mace, Matt Richardson, and the Raspberry Picademy Providence PLC; Bill Finzer and the CODAP Community; Mobilize IDS: Introduction to Data Science; Frank Ford, Adam Villa, and the Providence College Programming Contest; David Smith, Maryann Scholl, and the RI Teachers at Sea (RITAS) Program; MIT Network of Educators in Science and Technology (NEST) 2003 Cohort; Gail Chapman, CSPdWeek, and the Exploring Computer Science PLC; James Amaral for being a truly outstanding professor and being the first to support this project. Special appreciation (and sympathy) to K, A, S, and C Bousquet who have each made untold personal and family sacrifices for CSforALL over the last decade.

This Hour of Data project was created by Nicholas Bousquet who takes sole responsibility for all errors and omissions within the associated website and learning activities.