Along with colleagues Abby Smith and Mena Whalen, I co-designed and co-taught the course Introduction to Social Statistics and Data Literacy at the Cook County Department of Corrections as part of the Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP).

This course used real-world social data to introduce statistical concepts and empower students to explore, understand, and reason about data about society. Topics included methods for collection, summarization, presentation, and interpretation of data, such as sampling, means, proportions, and linear association. Students practiced critically examining quantitative claims and visualizations that appear in the media and other publications. The course introduced students to a variety of statistical techniques with the goal of answering socially-relevant questions and increasing data literacy in an information-rich world. We wanted students to leave the course being able to:

• Understand how data is used to answer socially-relevant questions
• Interpret and critique data visualizations appearing in the media
• Recognize the importance of data collection and sampling methods and determine how they affect conclusions drawn from data
• Critically examine and evaluate data-based claims and decisions
• Understand issues in data ethics and the responsibility of collectors and users of data

Read more about how Prison Education Unlocks Potential and a powerful article written by an NPEP student here.