• SAS hosted Teachers4DataAnalytics at the University of the Western Cape as well as North West University.
• The workshops showed teachers how to make use of SAS DataFly to encourage the pursuit of data science-related education.
• The goal is to shift from mathematical thinking to statistical thinking.

Being able to analyse data and derive information from that analysis is becoming more and more important as humanity generates more and more data every day.

Analysis by Polaris Market Research earlier this year reported that the global data science platform market was valued at $95.31 billion in 2021. By 2030, the market will be worth an estimated $695 billion. The report reveals that one of the factors in this surge is the adoption of data science platforms in markets such as Africa. This signals a clear and present need for data scientists and teachers to encourage learners to pursue education in data science.

In a bid to encourage more students to pursue data science, SAS has taken its Teachers4DataAnalytics program on the road. The program sees teachers being shown how to teach data analytics to their students. So far, teachers have been taught at the University of the Western Cape as well as North West University.

The aim is to show teachers how to shift from mathematical thinking to statistical thinking.

“The workshops held this past weekend showed teachers how to interpret what data means beyond the mathematical. It is about providing context to a story and not simply delivering a statistical approach to analysis. The value of the program, and workshops like these, is to open teachers’ and learners’ minds to understand that in the real world there is a lot of use of data. It is absolutely essential that they study further in data analytics because data is everywhere and you need to be able to make evidence-based decisions,” explains Delia North.

North is the former Dean and head of the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, for the College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

The workshop shows teachers how to make use of SAS DataFly. This free resource allows educators to capture data in a classroom setting and then represent that data in a visual way.

“They can input the data into the tool and see instantly how the graphic changes as new values are entered. For learners keen on using the tool, they can identify themselves by choosing emojis or specific colours for dots. It provides a great foundation on which to develop a love for data analytics and we are excited by the potential these and other workshops can have in the South African market,” explains André Zitzke, manager of Global Academic Programmes in Africa for SAS.

We hope to see these workshops reaching more teachers and ultimately, more learners feel inspired to pursue a career in data science.