This episode is quite different from other episodes for a few reasons. One, it's the first time I've had two guests on the show at the same time. Second, it's the first time I've had educators on the show. Third, the guests have a podcast about Python so they taught me a thing or two about interviewing guests on a show :). Kelly Schuster-Paredes starting teaching Python in middle school about four years ago. Sean Tibor also taught Python in middle school but transitioned to a cloud engineering role earlier this year. We chat about teaching data literacy in middle schools, developing empathy, the AP Computer Science exam, and the Teaching Python podcast.

Data literacy and Python for middle school students

Hearing the words "Python," "data literacy," and "middle school" in the same sentence is foreign to me. When I was in middle school in the late 90s, the only exposure we had to computers was the one computer in every classroom we sometimes got to play computer games on. In high school, there was only one computer science class and the only language you could learn was C++.

This might just be my "get off my front lawn" moment. The classroom has obviously changed a lot since the late 90s, and Kelly and Sean are at the forefront of this change.

They talked about the rigid rules you typically come across when it comes to learning math and science. You might use a graphing calculator in a math class, but then use a different set of math "tools" in science class. At the end of the day, it's all just data and how you store and manipulate it to get the results you need. Instead of using a calculator in physics, perhaps you could write a simple program to solve the problem.

Kelly and Sean eventually developed a curriculum centered around Python. They don't teach Python to their students the way you might normally learn computer science at university. At university and in bootcamps, you're usually given the practical knowledge and skills to be proficient in solving problems. In middle school, students learn with their "entire being" while adults learn the concrete things to get the job done. It's all about making a connection with the students, according to Kelly and Sean

How does data fit into math and science classes?

Both science and math classes involve collecting and analyzing a lot of data. But how is that data stored and interpreted? Kelly and Sean talk about how the only class that involves storing data in tables is in science class. In math and science classes, you might draw graphs on paper or on a graphing calculator. But how do you go from that paradigm of teaching to millions of rows of data stored in a database? In math class, it's a bit tougher to integrate data subjects because the goal of the class is to eventually be good at calculus.

Teaching skills that are used in the workplace

One of my favorite Freakonomics episodes is #391 where Stephen Dubner talks to various experts and academics about the math curriculum taught at middle and high schools. The theme of the episode is that teachers are still teaching math like we are preparing students for going to the moon. In reality, students just need to learn how to use Excel, PowerPoint, and Google Sheets since these are the tools they would use every day in the workplace.

I used to lean more heavily on the side of teaching the practical skills in middle and high schools. From talking with Kelly and Sean, I've started shifting my position to somewhere in the mi...