Why aren’t schools teaching data science?

Why aren’t schools teaching data science? Nancy Butler Songer highlights the importance of data literacy skills for pre-university students. The Life Right Here and Everywhere Project aims to equip youth with essential data science skills, fostering confidence and addressing challenges in integrating data into lessons. Data are everywhere. Whether we are in the United States using a navigation app to get driving directions or warn us about road closures, or in India, where online stores like Flipkart use shopping data to recommend books, clothing, and electronics, our world presents us with near-constant situations, both personal and professional, mediated by data. “This situation presents both ‘perils and promises,’ said Rob Gould (NASEM, 2023). “The peril is that ignorance of data is harmful to individuals and society. The promise is that even a small amount of knowledge about how to make sense of data and how to communicate about them can be ‘tremendously empowering.’... At this point, we are a long way from building [data knowledge] successfully and at the level that we require.” (NASEM, 2023; p.8).