Interest-Driven Data Science Curriculum for High School Students: Empirical Evidence from a Pilot Study

This paper presents a pilot study of an interest-driven data science curriculum for high school students. The curriculum uses authentic and meaningful data exploration activities to situate data science in students' lived experiences. The curriculum aims to lay the computational foundation of data science and equip students with the necessary skills and practices to become informed and active citizens in our data-driven world. The pilot study, conducted in two sections of a computer science class, demonstrates the curriculum's inquiry-based approach, which allows students to formulate questions based on their interests and answer them by manipulating publicly available datasets. The study illustrates how a block-based learning environment and API data retrieval can be harnessed to support data science learning activities that situate the topics in learners' lived experiences and create an engaging learning experience. The study advances our understanding of ways to use novel technologies to introduce learners to data science, emphasizing the practical implications of using authentic data and the inquiry-based approach in curriculum design.