The need for data science education has been slowly growing over the last five years in North Carolina, but it has recently accelerated with the newly introduced computer science graduation requirement for all North Carolina students. Data science is one of the computer science courses students can take to satisfy their graduation requirement, and the North Carolina School of Science and Math (NCSSM) wants to ensure that their teachers have the training and resources necessary to offer this course. This summer, NCSSM offered a weeklong Data Science Summer Institute (DSSI) June 23-26 on their Morganton campus, co-organized and co-sponsored by the NSF-funded InSTEP project, which is a large multi-year project with investigators from the Hub for Innovation and Research in Statistics and Data Science Education (HI-RiSE) team at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation.

“We expect CS30: Introduction to Data Science to be a highly utilized pathway for students to meet this requirement,” said Taylor Gibson, dean of data science at NCSSM. “While DSSI does not specifically train teachers to deliver CS30, the foundational data science skills and tools covered throughout the week could easily be used by educators delivering a CS30 course to make it a fantastic and impactful experience for their students.”

About 75 middle, high school and community college teachers from around the country interested in incorporating data science into their classes attended DSSI. Throughout the week, educators utilized tools to explore and collect data as well as learned how to engage their students in data science and understand the resources available to them with HI-RiSE’s InSTEP online learning platform. About 55 teachers participated in the novice track, led by HI-RiSE, and 20 in an advanced track, led by NCSSM. The HI-RiSE team planned and executed the sessions using frameworks, tools, data investigations and teaching strategies based on material on the InSTEP platform. 

“It changed the way I think about math and statistics instruction,” said Sasha Wakefield, a math teacher at Clio High School in Clio, Michigan, who has been teaching for 20 years. “Data science isn’t something extra; it’s a new lens to teach what educators already value: critical thinking, curiosity and real-world problem solving. Teaching data science isn’t just about tools. It’s about empowering students to be informed, ethical participants in an increasingly digital society.”

Since the DSSI, Wakefield has partnered with local business owners to help launch a real-world statistics project with her students. Multiple businesses have submitted a question or a challenge they are facing that data could help answer, such as identifying customer trends. Her students will either work with data the business provides, or help collect it, then analyze and interpret it using statistical methods and data science tools. At the end of the project, they’ll present their findings and recommendations to the business.

The HI-RiSE team has been working with NCSSM for years. Since 2023, HI-RiSE scholars Gemma Mojica and Emily Thrasher have presented at DSSI, which is an important outreach event for North Carolina teachers. Hollylynne Lee—a Distinguished University Professor of mathematics and statistics education in the NC State College of Education, senior faculty fellow at the Friday Institute and the original director of HI-RiSE—first connected with Gibson while serving on the planning committee for NCSSM-Morganton. She worked to ensure that data science education would be a core part of the new campus’ academic program.

Now every graduate of NCSSM-Morganton completes the Foundations of Data Science course. Students learn the essential skills of working with real data to solve real world problems, both in and outside of the classroom.

“Delivering high-quality professional development for this many educators each year is a very heavy lift for a very small team from NCSSM,” said Gibson. “Having committed partners like HI-RiSE and the Data Science and AI Academy at NC State help ensure that we realize our promise to participants that they’ll receive some of the best professional development in the country, delivered by leading researchers and practitioners of data science education in the world.”

“By partnering with NCSSM, we were able to focus on providing impact within North Carolina,” said Thrasher, research scholar at the Friday Institute. “This is one way to really support our state on its journey to incorporating data science into K-12 education.” 

The HI-RiSE team, directed by Gemma Mojica,  has partnered with several efforts in North Carolina to increase opportunities for students to learn statistics and data science. In addition to the partnership with NCSSM, the team has worked for several years with the mathematics supervisors at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) to lead webinars for middle and high school teachers about various topics in the statistics and probability strand. In 2024, they helped the career and technical education (CTE) supervisors redesign the CS30: Introduction to Data Science course that is now being taught in schools and can fulfill the new North Carolina computer science graduation requirement.

“I hope that InSTEP continues to provide a place for teachers in North Carolina to expand their pedagogical content knowledge around what it looks like to implement data science education,” said Bruce Graham, a doctoral student earning his Ph.D. in the Learning and Teaching in STEM Mathematics and Statistics Education concentration and a graduate research assistant for InSTEP.

“The opportunity to work with teachers at the in-person institute allowed us to connect with teachers and get them excited about getting ready to engage their students in data science and to know the resources available to them with the InSTEP online learning platform,” said Lee. “The excitement in the room as the teachers dove into working with larger, messy data was great to see. The collective energy of the participants and all DSSI instructors really creates a strong synergy where you can see the value of research informing educational practices.”

Data is Everywhere

From social media algorithms to public health charts, data is used to inform us every day. Learning how to ask meaningful questions, analyze patterns and draw evidence-based conclusions could be essential skills to have for any person or career when making data-informed decisions. 

“It’s never been more important for students to have the opportunity to make decisions using real-world data,” said Gibson. “We live in a world of seemingly infinite data, and knowing how to work with data at that scale can be overwhelming and a bit daunting. Our teachers can help students learn how to collect or find the right data, and utilize data driven methodologies, to answer the questions that are important to them and their communities.” 

“Our world is increasingly driven by data, and it’s essential that younger learners develop the skills to navigate this landscape effectively,” said Ingrid Rockhead, a math teacher in the Clover School District in Clover, South Carolina. “I believe that building data literacy empowers everyone to lead more informed and productive lives.”

The DSSI planning team hopes that participants left the summit more inspired than ever to incorporate real-world data into their courses.

“The summit was an amazing experience, filled with such positive energy,” said Thrasher. “It is our hope that participants left the summit not only inspired but also equipped with practical ideas for incorporating data science into their courses, whether small adjustments to existing lessons or larger, more transformative changes to courses.”