Teaching Data Science to Teenagers

The email arrived in Devanshi Patel's inbox, and originally she thought nothing of it. It was a message from Stephen Dowling, associate director of Northwestern Engineering's Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) program.

Dowling's note informed all MSIT students about an opportunity teaching high school students in the University's Center for Talent Development (CTD) academic summer camp.

Patel (MSIT '24) was intrigued by the opportunity. She applied, interviewed, and ultimately was accepted to teach teenagers about data science and statistics. 

Her primary goal was to squash the belief that data science is only about mathematics.

"As data scientists you have your data, and you want to know what it means and to get good, meaningful decisions out of it," she said. "It's not all about mathematics. You need to know what to do with your data."

Patel used games and interactive lessons to demonstrate that point. She also frequently found herself sharing lessons she learned the previous year in MSIT.

"We were discussing security in the data science and AI space, and I'm doing the MSIT minor in cybersecurity, so I shared examples of things I learned in class," Patel said. "We talked about automated driving, we discussed cyber forensics, we talked about breaches. I talked about everything I learned in MSIT."

Dowling was excited to hear how MSIT prepared Patel for the teaching opportunity.

"I was thrilled not just to help facilitate the CTD-MSIT connection but to hear how well Devanshi did in her instructional capacity," he said. "It’s a testament to her hard work, first and foremost, but also to the depth of preparation MSIT provides in these fields." 

The course was six hours per day for three weeks. Patel knew high school students would bore quickly if she treated the class as a lecture, and she knew creativity was needed to teach highly complex, technical information in a fun and engaging way.

Based on student feedback, her efforts were successful.

Patel was awarded the "Fantastic Facilitator" award for excelling at facilitating discussion, guiding collaborative efforts, and fostering an inclusive environment.

Kevin Warman, who is the assistant coordinator for CTD summer camps, said Patel's resume is what initially stood out to him during the application process. Prior to MSIT, she was a software engineer, chief manager at India's Allied Chemical Corporation, and a student ambassador to Microsoft. 

Her experience in MSIT was a bonus.

"Students benefit from learning from other students," Warman said. "Devanshi was able to share with her students the most up-to-date information and breakthroughs in research. Devanshi did a fantastic job demonstrating how data science can be applied to multiple disciplines and help us make sense of the world around us."

Patel always assumed she'd return to a software engineering role after MSIT, and although that remains her priority, the summer experience with CTD has her considering possible teaching opportunities in the future. For now, her focus is on an independent study project she's doing under the guidance of MSIT director Randall Berry.

Reflecting on the summer experience, Patel felt there were similarities between her teaching opportunity and her MSIT capstone project.

Dowling was not surprised to hear of the resemblance.

"This teaching opportunity, in many ways, was a lot like the MSIT Capstone, where students make a business case to a group of C-suite executives," Dowling said. "Could Devanshi lead a classroom of young learners toward embracing the challenges and understanding the importance of data science and statistics? The answer was a resounding ‘yes,’ which can only bode well for the rest of her time in MSIT."