September 20 –The Cooperative Extension Program Dallas County 4-H unit has implemented their first Data Detectives Club at the For Oak Cliff Community Center as part of the COVID-19-inspired Data Science Education through Epidemiology (CIDSEE).
The Data Detectives project — funded by the National Science Foundation —increases the youth’s understanding of data principles and epidemiological science. It is built around a science adventure novel, “The Case of the COVID Crisis.” In the novel, two students travel through time and space under the guidance of a teenager from the future to learn about epidemics of the past and present. The characters learn about measles, smallpox, Ebola, COVID, and more as they visit Ohio, Pittsburgh, the Congo, Bangladesh, Navajo Nation, and Washington, D.C.
During the 7-week program, the students applied what they learned from school, media outlets, and the Data Detectives book in their daily discussions. Over time, the participants began to show interest in outside research on COVID-19 and its impact on the United States and other countries. Members of the club participated in heated debates on topics like opening a cruise line amid a pandemic, which variant is worse than the other, and vaccinations. Alongside the discussions, the class participated in the simulations on the Common Online Data Analysis Platform (CODAP).
The club members observed the culmination of each chapter by designing and presenting data-based public service announcements to a community audience of their choosing.
Trinity Perkins, a 4-H volunteer, wanted to give participants a chance to articulate what they learned in their own unique way. Their public service announcement was influenced by a video from rapper Juvenile about vaccinations. They decided to write a rap to explain everything they learned in the program.
“After listening to their song, it proved to me that they have a mastery level of the concepts that were taught over the summer,” Perkins said
Click here to see the ForOakCliff PSA.
Kristen Wells-Lewis
4-H and Youth Development Extension Agent, Dallas County
kristen.wells-lewis@ag.tamu.edu
(214) 904-3069