Engaging Undergraduates in the Thrill of Scientific Reasoning with Spatial Data

Keywords: scientific reasoning, exploratory spatial data analysis, education
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 47

Abstract

Undergraduate spatial data science curricula tend to first establish computational and statistical literacy, often resulting in students’ exploration of data in an overly mechanistic way that is disconnected from the logic of scientific inquiry. This presentation summarizes early efforts to develop a framework and teaching examples for overcoming such mechanical applications by means of an effective integration of scientific reasoning within the spatial data science workflow -- with the goal of engaging undergraduate students in the thrill of exploring spatial data. The focus on scientific reasoning shifts attention to scientific explanations, falsification, and abduction, while leveraging the power of spatial analysis. The objective is to design and illustrate a spatial data exploration process that allows students to distinguish plausible from implausible explanations, test against errors and biases, and make it more likely to detect unexpected results. This presentation demonstrates a framework for such integration of exploratory spatial data analysis and scientific reasoning, with case examples for teaching.