The North-West University (NWU), in partnership with SAS DataFly, a free resource that offers a fun and engaging way to explore data with students in real time, recently hosted a Teachers4DataAnalytics workshop for mathematics and science teachers.
The event was held at the NWU’s Vanderbijlpark Campus and was organised by statistics lecturers from the NWU and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).
During the event, Prof Delia North, UKZN dean and head of the School for Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, and Prof Christine Franklin, K-12 statistics ambassador for the American Statistical Association and elected ASA fellow, encouraged teachers to tell students about data science and the importance of mathematics as a subject.
Mathematics is currently one of the compulsory subjects required by the National Senior Certificate, and learners must choose between mathematics or mathematics literacy.
In her presentation, Prof Franklin noted that the number of learners choosing pure maths is declining, which means fewer school leavers pursuing careers in data science and related careers.
“Data literacy is critical because data is everywhere,” she emphasised.
She said that one of the reasons fewer learners chose pure mathematics was because teachers are encouraging learners to rather take maths literacy to increase the pass rate and the number of distinctions.
“This is a worrying trend. Pure maths is a subject considered critical for the country’s economic growth and development. Without it, school leavers are not eligible for science, engineering and some commerce programmes at university,” she explained.
Prof North concurred that while this trend increased matric pass rates, it also automatically excludes many learners from most degrees at tertiary institutions.
“Pure maths offers a variety of competencies such as research, statistical analysis and business skills. Maths teachers are therefore the change agents that can make a change in students’ lives. We want them to spread the word about data science and how statistics can change learners’ lives,” she said.
She added that through these workshops, they wanted to encourage maths teachers to tell students about the importance of mathematics and how it can open doors in data science and related courses.
“The country needs statistical thinkers. We want learners to be able to read, work and communicate with data. Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of statistical literacy and the ethical use of data,” added Prof North.
Teachers attending the SAS DataFly workshop were also encouraged to participate in the SAS DataFly Poster Competition, with prizes such as a laptop, smartphone and a R 2 500 Waltons voucher up for grabs.
NWU statistics lecturer and one of the programme coordinators Piet Ntema said the competition aims to showcase statistical reasoning through problem solving, and using data in the classroom with clear communication of results.
“Teachers have to tell a story based on data generated by responses from learners on any topic of interest using SAS DataFly. They then have to create a one-page presentation or poster that tells a story about the set of data collected,” Piet explained.
For more information on the competition, visit the Poster Competition page on the Teachers4DataAnalytics website.
Prof Delia North, dean and head of the School for Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal addresses teachers at the recentTeachers4DataAnalytics workshop.
