Data Science Workshop

This Saturday, January 28th, we hosted our data science workshop at the City Heights Library. Led by Emmie Kao, we learned about probability, statistics, and much more! 
Our first activity was a quick introduction to data science, where we collected data from the participants on their favorite part of AGSS. The most popular answer by far was learning about STEM! Next, we learned about what data science is, and some of its real-life uses, specifically in tracking COVID-19 cases. Then, the girls got to collect some data for themselves, by counting how many of each type of candy were in a random cupful, and calculated the probability of how likely it was to pick each candy out of the cup. We then discussed sampling, non-response, and acquiescence biases, and why judging the entire bucket of candy from a cupful wasn’t totally accurate.

Next, the girls tried out the Monty Hall problem. With three boxes, one with a car and two empty, participants first picked a box, then were shown one of the other, empty boxes, and had to decide whether to stay with their original choice or switch. They learned afterward that they were more likely to find the car if they switched from their original guess.
Finally, we started the final project of the workshop. Participants chose a question they are curious about. Our questions included what is your favorite class and what is your favorite ice cream flavor! Then, they surveyed each other to get a dataset answering their questions. The final product was a visual representation of their findings in any style they wished, such as pie charts and bar graphs. One participant commented, “we discovered that a lot of people tended to choose the flavor the person before them chose”.
 Look out for information on our upcoming cyber assist workshop!