This
month, in the CAUSE (Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education) / JSDSE (Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education) webinar series, we highlight the research article, SCRATCH to R: Toward an Inclusive
Pedagogy in Teaching Coding. In the webinar, Shu-Min Liao will introduce SCRATCH, a kid-friendly visual programming language developed by the Media Lab at MIT. SCRATCH was designed to introduce programming to children and teens in a “more thinkable, more
meaningful, and more social” way. Although it was initially intended for K-12 students, educators have used it for higher education as well, and found it particularly helpful for those who haven’t had the privilege of learning coding before college. In this
presentation, Dr. Liao will discuss using SCRATCH as a gateway to learning R in introductory or intermediate statistics courses. She will explain the design of her current project and share observations from a pilot study in a liberal arts college with 39
students who had diverse coding experiences. She found that the most disadvantaged students were not those with no coding experience, but those with poor prior coding experience or with low coding self-efficacy. This innovative SCRATCH-to-R approach also offers
instructors a pathway toward an inclusive pedagogy in teaching coding.
Presented By: Shu-Min Liao (Amherst College)
Short bios:
Shu-Min Liao is an Assistant Professor of Statistics at Amherst College. Her research interests include fully nonparametric theory and methodology, model-free multivariate dependence measures for categorical data, and STEM education research focused on DEIA
(Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) topics.
The webinar will take place on October 18th, from 4:00-4:30 pm EDT.
Registration is required but is free. Registration link is here:
https://www.causeweb.org/cause/webinar/jsdse/2022-10
We hope that you can join us.
Sincerely,
Leigh Johnson (Capital University)
Moderator,
CAUSE/JSDSE Webinar Series