Embracing Data Science

TL;DR

This paper advocates for integrating data science concepts into introductory statistics courses to make the discipline more relevant and engaging for undergraduate students, emphasizing the importance of aligning teaching with current data science practices.

Contribution

It proposes a framework for incorporating data science into introductory statistics education and offers resources for developing dedicated data science courses.

Findings

Data science enhances student engagement in statistics.

Introductory courses should incorporate data science projects.

Resources are available for standalone data science courses.

Abstract

Statistics is running the risk of appearing irrelevant to today's undergraduate students. Today's undergraduate students are familiar with data science projects and they judge statistics against what they have seen. Statistics, especially at the introductory level, should take inspiration from data science so that the discipline is not seen as somehow lesser than data science. This article provides a brief overview of data science, outlines ideas for how introductory courses could take inspiration from data science, and provides a reference to materials for developing stand-alone data science courses.