Data science for youth in the time of COVID

Through the “COVID-Inspired Data Science through Epidemiology Education” project, 400 underserved middle-school youth across the United States are engaging in a 20-hour out-of-school data club centered on a novel. The narrative is integrated with hands-on data activities and modeling (e.g., creating graphs of infections over time in CODAP; modeling disease transmission rates in NetLogo). Youth learn to: 1) Use data tools to track the spread of a variety of infectious diseases; 2) Ask and address their own questions of data; and 3) Use data to communicate to local audiences about epidemiological patterns and challenges. The project breaks new ground in integrating data science with epidemiology education for 11–14-year-old youth.