Big Data, What Are You Saying?
Big data tools.Copyright 2016 Wordle (images created with Wordle are permitted to be used in any way) www.wordle.net/create
Students act as R&D entrepreneurs, learning ways to research variables affecting the market of their proposed (hypothetical) products. They learn how to obtain numeric data using a variety of Internet tools and resources, sort and analyze the data using Excel and other software, and discover patterns and relationships that influence and guide decisions related to launching their products. First, student pairs research and collect pertinent consumer data, importing the data into spreadsheets. Then they clean, organize, chart and analyze the data to inform their product production and marketing plans. They calculate related statistics and gain proficiency in obtaining and finding relationships between variables, which is important in the work of engineers as well as for general technical literacy and decision-making. They summarize their work by suggesting product launch strategies and reporting their findings and conclusions in class presentations. A finding data tips handout, project/presentation grading rubric and alternative self-guided activity worksheet are provided. This activity is ideal for a high school statistics class.
Engineers obtain and analyze data for myriad applications, including quality control of processes, modeling and simulation design, and optimizing production supply based on consumer demand. They may use data to improve reliability of the existing manufacturing processes, predict emerging equipment failures, design next-generation manufacturing equipment, and invent new technologies based on historical data. Data analysis also brings to light hidden factors on demand, including demographic influences, contributions of related variables, and variability over short and long time intervals. Data engineers are specialists in growing demand; they design and build applications to collect data and organize it for data scientist teams. Big data is influencing all sorts of industries—healthcare, entertainment, transportation, government, and even dairy—for emissions control to planning for transportation, disaster relief and population migration, to product evolution and productivity optimization. Many of today’s students may end up in "big data" career paths.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Use software tools to locate and import data into Excel.
- Organize and filter data to compare related factors.
- Generate graphs and statistics for analysis.
- Determine factors and influences on variables.
- Use data analysis to form and support conclusions.
- Think and argue critically about decisions and reflect on their advantages and shortcomings.