Thank you for helping make today our biggest CensusAtSchool launch ever!
1,871 teachers registered
1,010 schools registered
1,877 students took part today
We look forward to a big day tomorrow. The survey remains open until the end of 2022.
We are proud to announce our new live dashboard. See if your school is one of the highest participating schools and fun stats coming in as students take part!
Need help exploring data using technology in your teaching and learning?
Catch up on the latest professional development for Data Science. These webinars are a great starting point to help structure and support STEM opportunities for your colleagues and students.
Data Science Education Meetups
Recommend starting with: What Kinds of Questions Do Students Generate as They View Data Visualizations?
“Thinking about questions makes me think of more questions.”
For a general audience (with an interest in Statistics and/or Computing)
Register for (free) in-person attendance
Data Science in the Connected Era
Dr Simon Urbanek, Senior Lecturer, Department of Statistics, University of Auckland
Implementing a Machine-Learning Tool to Support High-Stakes Decisions in Child Welfare: A case study in Human Centred AI
Professor Rhema Vaithianathan, Centre for Social Data Analytics, AUT
Modelling to support the COVID-19 response in Aotearoa New Zealand
Dr Rachelle Binny, Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research and Te Pūnaha Matatini
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Last week the University of California sent a momentous email to 20,000 high schools announcing that they would now accept data science as an alternative to algebra 2 – this has huge implications for schools & students. Read the full announcement
The ZDM special issue on Innovations in statistical modelling to connect data, chance and context is now freely available (open access) during October.
It would be great, if you could distribute the news via your networks.
https://www.springer.com/journal/11858/updates/18235366
Published 9 September 2020
It is with sadness we share news of the passing of Sir Vaughan Jones FRS Hon FRSNZ, aged 67, from the complications from an ear infection. Sir Jones will be remembered as a brilliant mathematician who made outstanding contributions to the field of mathematics, scientific research and higher education.
Sir Vaughan Jones was born and raised in New Zealand and went to the University of Auckland, graduating in 1973.
He moved overseas to earn his doctorate from the University of Geneva, and became a Professor of Mathematics at the University of California at Berkeley in 1985.
Despite his career overseas, Sir Vaughan worked hard to promote mathematics of the highest quality in Aotearoa. He has made key contributions to scientific research and post graduate education here in New Zealand and across the globe.
He is best known for the discovery of an unexpected link between the mathematical study of knots – a field dating back to the 19th century – and statistical mechanics, a form of mathematics used to study complex systems with large numbers of components. He found a new polynomial invariant for knots and links in three-dimensional space – something that had been missed by topologists during the preceding 60 years.
His discovery of what is now called the Jones polynomial had origins in the theory of von Neumann algebras. Friend and long-time colleague of Sir Vaughan, Distinguished Professor Marston Conder FRSNZ told the NZ Herald that his work has had a wide application.
“[His] work in theoretical mathematics, which basically helps distinguish one knot from another, had application in biological science, enabling scientists to identify whether two different types of RNA are from the same source,” Marston said.
“That was an outstanding achievement because from theoretical mathematics, his discoveries had real significance in an entirely different field.”
Because of this work, Sir Vaughan became the first ever winner from the Southern Hemisphere of the Fields Medal in 1990, which is widely regarded as the “Nobel Prize of Mathematics” because of the prestige it carries. He famously accepted the award in an All Blacks rugby jersey. He remains the only New Zealander to have won the Fields Medal.
In 1991, Sir Vaughan was the first winner of the Society’s prestigious Rutherford Medal. In 2012 the Society established the Jones Medal in his honour, for lifetime achievement in pure or applied mathematics or statistics.
Sir Vaughan was elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society, London in 1990 and elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1991. In 2002 he was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DCNZM) (later re-designated Knight Companion KNZM).
Our deepest condolences go out to the whānau and friends of Sir Vaughan – he has left a prominent mark on the academic community, one that will not be forgotten.
Sir Vaughan is survived by his wife, Martha Jones, and three children.
Awash in Data, is a free open-source e-book authored by the fabulous Tim Erickson. Designed for both teachers and students, this rich, interactive resource walks users through introductory lessons in data science with CODAP (Common Online Data Analysis Platform). Embedded CODAP documents bring each lesson to life. Give it a go!
