Launch of COVID-Inspired Data Science Education through Epidemiology -CIDSEE

Science Education Solutions (SCIEDS), Tumblehome, Concord Consortium, STEM Next/Imagine Science, Strategic Learning Partners for Innovation (SLP4i), Jackson Laboratory (JAX), and Partnerships in Education and Resilience (PEAR) today announced the receipt of a $1.25 million National Science Foundation grant for a project called CIDSEE: COVID-Inspired Data Science Education through Epidemiology. End Quote

Boston, MA-NH (1888PressRelease) March 17, 2021 - The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic provides a motivating takeoff point for empowering young people to understand uses of data science. Through this program, 400 diverse youth drawn from Imagine Science cities across the country will engage in an out-of-school transmedia program centered on reading an adventure novel, along with data activities, modeling, podcasts, science animations, and career exploration.

The CIDSEE project will enroll at least 400 middle school Data Detectives in 15 hours of discussion, games, and data exploration activities based on a middle-grade adventure novel, The Case of the COVID Crisis. The novel follows two middle-school students, Clinton and Mae, on a time-travel adventure guided by a teenage mentor from the future. They visit epidemics of the past and present, including measles, smallpox, Nipah, the 1918 flu, Ebola, and COVID, traveling to places like the Congo, Bangladesh, Taiwan, Pittsburgh, and Navajo country. Each chapter will be accompanied by a podcast of the characters discussing data, followed by club members exploring what can be learned from real data sets, using the powerful and accessible data tool CODAP (the Common Online Data Analysis Platform). Participants will also watch short animations about viruses, vaccines, and clinical trials, and they will meet data scientists, researchers, and/or local epidemiologists either in person or virtually.

CIDSEE trainers will prepare Imagine Science program staff to offer the Data Detectives club either online or in person. Research and evaluation will explore the impact of the program on: youth understanding of data and how it can be used in tracking and managing disease; the effect of the program on students’ science identity and interest in careers involving data science; and how different aspects of the clubs contribute to the outcomes found.

All project materials will be made widely available through the SCIEDS, STEM Next, and Tumblehome websites by the end of the three-year project.

For more information about the CIDSEE program, contact Jan Mokros of Science Education Solutions (jmokros(at)scieds(dot)com) or Penny Noyce of Tumblehome, Inc. (pendrednoyce(at)gmail(dot)com)

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