Abstract:

The Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) annually organizes an event aimed at first-year high school students and students in higher vocational training cycles. This event, called Campus Praktikum UPV, is conceived as an award for those students who have excelled in their academic records and trajectory, recognizing their efforts during the academic year. During the campus, students participate in activities and workshops related to the various degrees offered by UPV, allowing them to make informed decisions about their future university studies.

In this regard, a group of professors from the Department of Applied Statistics and Operations Research and Quality propose a workshop within the curriculum of the School of Informatics and its degree on Data Science. The purpose of the workshop is to highlight the importance of Statistics in Data Science and to carry out two practical exercises that capture students’ attention and motivate them to choose this field as their career and future way of life.

The workshop is titled “What if we analyze it?” and consists of three blocks: an introductory block and two practical ones. In the first block, we emphasize the importance of statistics in generation and analysis of data. Under the heading “Data, Information, and Tools,” we present local, national, and international databases within the concept of “Open Data.”

Following this introduction, we conduct the first practice, which involves simple data analysis using computer programs to calculate statistical parameters and create descriptive graphs. Specifically, we propose to analyze the evolution of smartphones performance. This includes web scraping, data cleaning, and the use of basic statistical tools for analysis. For each of the performance parameters we discuss the results and their interpretation.

In the second practice, we focus on data generation using experimental design methodology and its subsequent analysis. As an application, we challenge our students to design a paper samara, a seed with a wing, that quickly spirals to the ground, carried away from its tree by the wind. Students form work teams, organize and distribute tasks among members, assigning responsibilities for each activity. Once the data is collected and analyzed, a contest is organized where each team presents its best design and competes against other teams as top designers of flying maple seed replicas.

Keywords:

First-year high school, higher vocational, workshop, data science.