Overview

The Data Science Taught Course is designed for A level Mathematics and Core Maths students.

The Taught Course is offered via Integral and features weekly online lessons, with supporting study material, over a term.  Students are assessed through both a practical assessment task and a short examination.  The teaching and marking of the assessment is offered by MEI tutors, though schools/colleges are expected to administer the examination.  Places on this course are limited.

This course focusses on the use of Python for exploring data. No prior knowledge of Python is required.

Aims

• Deepen students' knowledge of the key concepts of data science
• Improve students' skills in using technology to gain insights from data
• Provide an opportunity to learn more about data science for students who are interested in future study/careers in this area

Who will benefit from attending?

The course is suitable for students who are studying, or have studied, A level Mathematics or Core Mathematics.

Content

Lessons

Over a sequence of 11 lessons, students will cover the following aspects of data science:

• Domain knowledge (the importance of understanding the context you are working in)
• Exploratory data analysis
• Presentation of data and visualisations
• Modelling with data and machine learning

Each lesson will focus on a particular aspect of data science and include opportunities for students to explore some coding tasks using Python. Students will work on real data taken from different contexts, including topics such as the environment, health, commerce, and world development indicators.

Homework

Homework tasks will be set throughout the course:

• Week 4: Exploratory data analysis on the data set.
• Week 7: Building a model based on the data.

Assessment

Assessment for this course comes in two parts:

1. Practical task
   Students will complete and submit homework tasks. They will be provided with a data set on which to base their work. Tutors will feed back on these tasks individually and students will submit a practical task based on these at the end of the course.
2. One-hour written assessment
   Students will sit a one-hour written examination in school or college after they have completed the course. The examination will be provided and marked by the MEI tutors. Schools and colleges are expected to administer this by ensuring that the students sit it under examination conditions.

Materials and equipment

Students will require access to an internet-connected computer for the live lessons and the coding tasks. 

This course is delivered via a live online teaching platform. The coding tasks are accessed via Kaggle https://www.kaggle.com/ alternative versions are available for schools/colleges that wish to host them locally.

The course materials can also be shared with any schools/colleges that wish to deliver the course themselves.

Other information

Certification

Students who complete the course and the assessments will be awarded an MEI certificate.

Tutors

Each class will be hosted by two tutors from MEI. The tutors for this course are Rob Butler, Tom Button, Nicole Cozens and Natalie Vernon.

Applying for the course

We accept applications from schools/colleges on behalf of their students.  We will need details of:

• names of students
• school email addresses of students
• student preferences for classes

Eligibility

Teachers register their students for this course via the 'Apply' button. We cannot accept applications directly from students.

Please note that places are limited to a maximum of 10 students from a school/college. If you have more than 10 students who wish to study the course, please get in touch at [email protected].

Study schedule

FAQs

Sessions take place via Zoom, 17:00-18.00

Closing date for applications is Monday 4th November 2024.

Key facts

• Reference:#13878
• Audience:Students
• Curriculum focus:A level Mathematics
• Event format:Online
• Duration:4 months
• Online sessions:11
• Region:National
• Fee:Free