Freakonomics Podcast talks Data Science in K12 Math

In the latest Freakonomics Radio episode, experts in education imagine a future in which data science is the backbone of K-12 math (and Steve hosts!).

Ninety-percent of the world’s data has been created in the last two years. With this new reality, all students should be able to speak the language of data even if they do not learn to be practitioners of data science. They will need to interpret fact from fiction when presented with data in public discourse. As they grow up, today’s students will need to navigate a more complex world, with information overload in some cases and missing data in others. In short, the need to analyze and interpret data is an essential life skill, necessary for informed decision-making in personal finance, political participation, and most career-paths.

Yet, amid all this change, our math curriculum has stayed the same. Our K-12 math curriculum was originally created in 1892, and today’s curriculum was written during the Space Race. The University of Chicago Center for RISC has been working to modernize math education and work with states to get data science into our children’s classrooms and skill sets.

Find the podcast on the new Freakonomics Radio Data Literacy page, iTunes (where you can also subscribe) or Soundcloud and listen to Steven Levitt (University of Chicago), David Coleman (College Board), Jo Boaler (Stanford Graduate School of Education and Faculty Director of youcubed), Sally Sadoff (UC San Diego), Suyen Machado (UCLA Introduction to Data Science), and our very own Daphne Martschenko discuss the future of K-12 education.

Learn more about data literacy with our partners at youcubed, who have assembled a dedicated webpage with a list of resources for everyone and educational materials for teachers.

Sign the petition, and send a message that yesterday’s math is no longer good enough. The movement is in the early stages, but momentum is building.

This project is funded by Schmidt Futures and the University of Chicago Center for RISC.