Python Data Science

Taster Workshops For Children (Teachers and Parents, too!)

Workshop times and locations being finalised.

Free Tutorial Workshops

We'll be holding free tutorial workshops across Cornwall introducing children to the Python programming language, using the Jupyter notebook, and working through simple data science projects - working with data, visualisation and using tools to extract insights from data - just like a proper data scientist.

Why Python? Jupyter Notebooks?

Python is one of the world's most popular and useful programming languages. It is taught to children in schools, and powers some of the largest technology infrastructures on the planet. It can be used to make games and power web services.

Today, Python has also become the standard for doing data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence research.

Today many data scientsts use the Jupyter Notebook to write their code and explore data. These web based notebooks have revolutionised how we work, making it easier to code, easier to visualise data, and easier to share our work.

Data Science?

Almost every facet of life creates data, from medical research to astronomy, from city planning to medical health data, from sales data to forensic evidence, from archeology to online discusssion about games.

The ability to extract useful information from the vast amounts of data is incredibly powerful. It can lead to breakthroughs in science, and deeper understanding of our history and environment. Businesses are eager to maximise their competitive advantage by better understanding data about their own processes, and the market they work in.

Data science - the combination of maths, coding, visualisation, data technology, and ideas from artificial intelligence - is a a valuable skill, in great demand and highly rewarded.

These workshops will provide a taster for doing data science with Python.

Who Is It For?

These workshops are aimed primarily at children aged 7 - 17.

Three levels of project will be provided:

  • a gentle introduction for young or new beginners with a focus on visualisation
  • an interesting task for children with some coding experience
  • an exciting astronomy themed challenge for more confident students with school-level science

Teachers and parents are also most welcome to join in and start to explore Python and Data Science.

No previous experience is required, and guidance will be provided for everyone. The aim is to leave with more than you came in with!

When And Where?

Workshops are being planned to be held at the following locations.

Practical Stuff

To ensure everything runs smoothly, please note the following:

  • All children will need to be accompanied by parents / carers at all times.
  • Please bring a fully charged laptop with working wifi and a modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari). Access to a power socket is not guaranteed.
  • We have some spare laptops for use in these workshops for children that don't have access to one - get in touch to reserve one.
  • Each participant will need a Google Account. You can create one for free. There is no software to be installed.
  • These are free workshops, there is no charge for attending.
  • Water and some fruit will be provided at the workshops as a healthy refreshment.

About the Organiser

Tariq Rashid has a degree in physics from the University of Cambridge, and a Masters in Machine Learning and Data Mining from Bristol University. He has worked in technology for 20 years, across high-tech startups, large enterprises and central government.

He is experienced in running technology and education focussed communities, including the Algorithmic Art group with over 3000 members, Data Science Cornwall and the popular CoderDojo Cornwall. He regularly speaks or gives tutorials at conferences. He is also the author of a successful book on neural networks.

Tariq has had a recent Extended DBS check.

Contact

If you have any questions, you can contact Tariq by email coderdojocornwall at gmail dot com.