Overview of the Discipline of Computer Science - Guide to Teaching Computer Science: An Activity-Based Approach - page 50

Activity 23: Acquaintance with Data Science
• Stage A: Trigger, Group work
The aim of the trigger is to let the prospective computer science teachers
experience the design of a teaching unit for a basic computer science con-
cept while connecting it to current technological development that is most
probably known to the new generation of computer science students (and
teachers).
− Search a definition for Data Science. Layout 5 of its most important
characteristics and principles.
− What are the computer science concepts related to Data Science?
− Present at least five computer science concepts on which Data Science
based. Explain your selection.
− What connections can you draw between computer science and Data
Science?
− Following a class discussion about the students' findings, the actual
work on the design of the teaching unit takes place.
• Stage B: Design activity, Group work (or individual work at home)
Based on the above trigger, select a core computer science topic and
design a lesson in which the concept is introduced from the data science
perspective.
• Stage C: Group presentation in class
After the groups complete designing the lesson, they present part of the
lesson to their class milieu and get feedbacks.
• Stage D: Discussion
It is worth listing the computer science subjects and concepts addressed in
this lesson and to ask the prospective computer science teachers to draw
connections between them (a concept map can be one option for this task).
Such a discussion may reflect, among other ideas, the centrality of com-
puter science in the development of the leading, cutting-edged, updated
technologies which shape our lives. Such a conclusion not only highlights
the importance of computer science, but can also be used to highlight the
responsibility of the profession of computer science to the community and
the society and be connected to the concept of ethics addresses above.
A similar activity can be done with respect to cyber and other new branches in
computer science 15 . One direction that can be discussed in the MTCS course
is the connectivity of computer science to many other areas (as Sect. 3.9
illustrates).
15 E.g., the Cybersecurity Education at UMD program at http://cyber.umd.edu/education.