“Why Data Science is Cool” Slide-Share

Since publishing the article “Explaining Data Science to High School Students,” I’ve had several requests to talk to other high school student groups about data science or share the slides that I use. Here they are on Google Slides, and I wrote about the talk for Nebula Youth Camps in this LinkedIn post.

A most common question

After several talks, I’ve made one significant change. I initially took the stance that data science is an excellent field of study that every student should consider. But at each session, I get questions like this:

• Is data science helpful in biology?
• Is data science helpful in history?
• Is data science helpful in healthcare?
• Is data science helpful in robotics?
• Is data science helpful in law?
• Is data science helpful in teaching?
• Is data science helpful in agriculture?
• Is data science helpful in environmental studies?

And, of course, the answer is yes to every one of these questions! Each time I get this question, I personalize my explanation with examples from TIBCO’s customer base, which span just every field.

Data science will be an intrinsic element of any field you pursue.

Weave data science into the fabric of whatever you study

So, now I talk about how data science, yes, is an excellent choice for a field of study. I also suggest that every student “weave one thread of data science into their academic fabric.” Whether you like history, geology, or geography, take one course in data science, stats, or machine learning so its application can percolate in your mind, because data science will impact every profession in the future.

The same idea also applies to data science majors: learn about more than just data science! The best data scientists deeply understand the real-world impact of math.

So my latest presentation cuts both ways: whatever educational fabric you weave, make sure data science is at least one thread of your unique tapestry!

I always love to hear feedback on this topic: send me an email at okowire@gmail.com to let me know what you think; I read and respond to every email, and I love to hear from you!