Overview: Data and Analysis

Overview: Data and Analysis

At the core of computing lies data and analysis. The earliest computers were designed to handle repeated calculations.

According to Virginia Computer Science SOL Introduction, “Data and Analysis involves the data that exist and the Data Analysis that exist to process that data. The amount of digital data generated in the world is rapidly expanding, so the need to process data effectively is increasingly important. Data is collected and stored so that it can be analyzed to better understand the world and make more accurate predictions.”

Big Ideas-Why do students need Data and Analysis?
  1. Learning to analyze trends across data sets
  2. Using computing devices to generate data faster and more efficient calculations
  3. Data aggregations
  4. Life skill-students need to understand their data is collected and combined in ways most people are not aware of. Students need  to understand 


Analog vs digital

Encoding is changing information from one form of information into another.  Writing letters to represent sounds and words is a form of encoding, just like elevator buttons represent the floors of a building. All of the information that a computer stores and processes, from videos to data about hurricanes, is encoded in binary,

Digitization is the process of encoding information so that it can be processed by a computer. Computer input devices capture information from the world around us and encode it. So a camera translates pictures, microphone translates sounds and an MRI translates internal body structures into data a computer stores and processes.

One example of encoded data in a computer is the ASCII Chart. It sets the rules for how letters are stored in the computer.

Resources:

  1. Book: Big Data by Kenneth Cukier and Viktor Mayer-Schonberger

    • Related Articles

    • Domains of Facilitation

      OVERVIEW

    • Overview: Computing Systems

      Context: This strand focuses on the hardware in computers. In computer science, hardware is not just about memorizing components, but rather asking the fundamental question - what makes something a computer? As computers get smaller and invade more ...

    • Overview: Networking and the Internet

      Context: Humans are inherently social and connected creatures, and this drives much of the technology we create. In 1800 BC Chinese soldiers used smoke signals along the Great Wall of China to communicate dangers over hundreds of miles, while in the ...

    • Variables

      Definition Computers store information in binary.  A series of 1's and 0's represent numbers, letters, pictures, and everything else the computer stores. The computer tracks all of these locations so that the data can be retrieved when it is needed. ...

    • Binary

      Since computers use electricity to store information, all they can really do is mark ON or OFF ON = 1 OFF = 0 NOTE: Students do NOT need to know how to translate base ten to binary (base two) CodeVA's Podcast episode on binary:  Resources Binary ...