Generation Z is known as the most diverse generation in American history. How would you describe your identity? What sets you apart from others in your generation?
Note: Last year, The Learning Network ran a photography contest asking teenagers to show us their generation. We received nearly 2,200 responses and crowned 36 winners. Be on the lookout for it next school year, so you can share with us how you define Gen Z.
Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan.
“I tell people, when they drop food on the floor, please pick it up and eat it,” said Dr. Meg Lemon, a dermatologist in Denver who treats people with allergies and autoimmune disorders.
… Dr. Lemon’s prescription for a better immune system doesn’t end there. “You should not only pick your nose, you should eat it,” she said.
She’s referring, with a facetious touch, to the fact our immune system can become disrupted if it doesn’t have regular interactions with the natural world.
In late 2015, The New York Times released the NYT VR app and published the Magazine cover story “Displaced,” a multimedia journey in text, photographs and virtual reality that tells the stories of three child refugees.
To help us provide teachers with practical teaching strategies on using NYT VR in the classroom, we’ve teamed up with Travis Feldler, founder ofTechRow Fund, a nonprofit organization that explores how to leverage immersive technology inside schools to improve learning outcomes. This post is part of a series of guest lessons we occasionally publish featuring partnerships with outside organizations who make especially good use of New York Times materials in their programming and curriculums.
_________
Virtual reality journalism, a medium that enables journalists to tell stories through an immersive, 360-degree audiovisual experience, can serve as a powerful educational tool to grab students’ attention and get them excited about a range of complex subjects. The V.R. experiences created by The New York Times combine the power of immersion with compelling first-person narratives and storytelling to allow users to explore a range of scientific, cultural and global themes. After students don their headsets, they enter a new environment — from Ethiopia and Mecca to a March for Our Lives protest and CERN’s Large Hadron Collider — in which their senses of sight and sound are totally engaged.
From a practical standpoint, what’s also useful about NYT VR is that the films are typically no longer than 10 minutes, so they are easy to fit into a normal class period and not overwhelm students.
Below, we introduce four NYT VR experiences that TechRow Fund has used with students in New York City schools. Plus, we suggest tips for getting started with V.R. journalism in your own classroom.
Note: To experience any of these films in virtual reality, you’ll need to wear a V.R. headset while using the NYT VR app. You can find all the V.R. experiences mentioned in this teaching resource, as well as dozens of others, on the app as well.
Four NYT VR Learning Experiences
Explore Pluto
“Seeking Pluto’s Frigid Heart” is a stereoscopic V.R. experience that brings viewers to Pluto to watch the New Horizons spacecraft travel through space over bright plains and rugged mountains, where the user can stand on Pluto’s unique surface while watching its largest moon hover over the horizon.
For seventh-grade students studying space in class, we designed a mission-to-Pluto activity using this film. Before leaving Earth, they practiced research skills by running searches on Pluto and its satellite, Charon. Then they were required to document their journey to this dwarf planet and report back to the space command center. The experience pushed students to think creatively about the abstract nature of space, and the journaling activities helped them own the experience.
Not only were students improving digital literacy, critical thinking and writing skills, but they also were synthesizing those skills with a scientific theme.
Journey to the Hottest Place on Earth
We led another session with fifth graders on surfaces of the Earth and incorporated NYT VR’s “Land of Salt and Fire.” This V.R. experience transports the viewer to Dallol, Ethiopia, the hottest place on Earth, where you travel with camel caravans that move salt across the vast plains and active geothermal zones of the Afar region. The colors from the topography of Dallol are absolutely stunning and make this V.R. experience highly engaging for students from elementary on up.
We invited students to go on an anthropological expedition to document life in Dallol. Working in pairs, they did a basic web search on the word “anthropology” and described what they saw when they did an image search on the words “deserts,” “salt trade” and “Dallol.” We also asked students to identify Dallol on a map. This initial work exposed students to the diversity of Earth’s topography and prepared them for what they would encounter in the virtual reality experience.
After taking their V.R. journey, students were expected to journal their experiences using a method called “If I were there.” This is an activity that encourages personal reflection by leading with the five senses. Students journal:
1. If I were there, I would touch … 2. If I were there I would see … 3. If I were there, I would hear … 4. If I were there, I would smell … 5. If I were there I would taste …
Following their expedition to the desert, they shared their findings with classmates and reflected on how different environments can influence ways of life.
Decode the Secret Language of Dolphins
Another NYT VR experience, “The Click Effect,” takes the viewer on a free-dive with two marine scientists as they capture the secret “click” communication of dolphins and sperm whales. It is a great way for students to learn about marine biology and echolocation.
In this experience, we let middle school students play the role of marine scientists investigating the secret language of dolphins. After students came up with an original name for their respective labs, they ran an online search on fish, dolphins, whales and other cetaceans through a combination of Google images and online sources. In the following order, they researched:
A. Sharks, skates and cartilaginous fish B. Bony fish C. Are dolphins fish? D. What is a cetacean? E. Cetaceans and intelligence F. Dolphin clicks and screeches
The student research created a runway to speak about echolocation. We asked students to demonstrate hearing as a spatial sense by making sounds in different parts of the room while another student tried to locate the sound with eyes closed, pointing in the direction of the sound. As another example, we asked them to click their tongues with their eyes closed.
Taking their knowledge of marine life and echolocation, students were ready for their V.R. mission to explore the secret language of dolphins. After completing their mission, they journaled about their expedition in writing or in sketches and then they reported back their findings to the lab for group discussions. By the end of the activity, students had a much better understanding about how dolphins use sound waves to navigate underwater.
Meet Three Children Displaced by War and Persecution
“The Displaced” is a virtual reality experience that recognizes the nearly 60 million people who are currently displaced from their homes by war and persecution. Half are children. This NYT VR multimedia journey tells the stories of three children from eastern Ukraine, Syria and Sudan.
After watching, students selected one child from the film to focus on for the activity. To prepare, we asked them to consider the following:
• What is your character’s name? Which country is he or she from? • What was your character’s life like before she or he was displaced? Did he go to school? Who was his family members? What did he do for fun? • What was it like being displaced? How does your character feel about leaving home? What was the journey like? • What kind of life is your character living now? Is she going to school? Does she have friends? What is her new home like?
Then, in pairs, they prepared a short skit in which they told the child’s life story while pretending to be that character. They performed their story first in front of another pair and eventually in front of the class.
This was a particularly meaningful activity because displacement and homelessness were real issues for students in the New York City district in which we were working. While perhaps a different texture of displacement, the activity was an opportunity to identify and relate to a tragedy that is not only local in nature, but also a global phenomenon. And in a different context, we’ve also seen this V.R. experience being used with students who had experienced displacement from war. Creating a space where students and peers participate in an immersive activity together created a cultural bridge that encouraged a great deal of empathy and understanding.
Getting Started With NYT VR
Virtual reality is not a technology that should replace other teaching resources; instead, it should serve as a complementary tool that can enhance learning across disciplines. As with any new technology being introduced into the classroom, success depends on expectations, an effective strategy and the practical details of how it is being used. Here are some suggestions:
1. Roles and Goals: By having focused objectives, teachers provide students with an intellectual mission to decode their experiences.
2. V.R. Partners: We love pairing students. It creates a community of trust, develops empathy and deepens experience sharing. Ensure that each partner has a role in the activity.
3. Safety! Safety! Safety! We always recommend sitting when participating in V.R. experiences. Pairs create an additional safety measure because the partner who is observing the user in experience is ensuring that his or her partner is safely experiencing the content. Go over a list of dos and don’ts. Some of our personal favorites include: a) No standing up; b) If you are starting to feel dizzy, take the headset off; and c) Do not flail hands or legs around to avoid causing potential accidents.
To get started, you’ll also need some basic technology. Here are some general requirements:
1. Internet: V.R. experiences can be downloaded or streamed. We recommend downloading the experience to the device so that streaming issues are avoided.
2. Headset: Choose a headset that makes the most sense for the mobile devices that you are using. There are mobile device-agnostic headsets that could work with a variety of phones. Prices range from under $10 for a simple cardboard viewer and go up from there. Most headsets also come with compatibility specs, so that you can be better informed on how to pair accurately.
3. Mobile Device: Smartphones are essential to powering these experiences.
4. Headphones: Headphones allow the user to be more immersed and reduce the disruption to the experience that could arise from using speakers.
5. App Store: The NYT VR app can be downloaded to both Android and iOS devices.
The novelty and engagement potential of V.R. makes it a powerful tool for learning. When used thoughtfully, V.R. can, for a brief moment, transport students out of the classroom to a new and unfamiliar world. Not only can it help students develop their English language arts skills through journaling and research, but it can also help improve and develop a range of competencies such as empathy, critical thinking and digital literacy — as well as enhance content instruction.
What do you know about the Electoral College? What is its purpose? How does it work? (If you need more information, you might watch the two-minute video, “The Electoral College Explained,” or read the related article, “How Does the Electoral College Work?” from 2016.)
On March 18, at a CNN town hall in Jackson, Miss., Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called for shutting down the Electoral College. “I believe we need a constitutional amendment that protects the right to vote for every American citizen and to make sure that vote gets counted,” she said.
“The desire to abolish the Electoral College is driven by the idea Democrats want rural America to go away politically,” Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said on Twitter. His colleague Marco Rubio of Florida posted a similar note, calling the Electoral College a “work of genius” that “requires candidates for president to earn votes from various parts of country. And it makes sure interests of less populated areas aren’t ignored at the expense of densely populated areas.”
President Trump weighed in as well: “With the Popular Vote, you go to just the large States — the Cities would end up running the Country. Smaller States & the entire Midwest would end up losing all power — & we can’t let that happen. I used to like the idea of the Popular Vote, but now realize the Electoral College is far better for the U.S.A.”
What is your reaction to Ms. Warren’s statement? Based on what you know right now, do you think the Electoral College is an important part of the United States election process? Why or why not?
In February, I wrote about the Electoral College, its origins and its problems. Whatever its potential merits, it is a plainly undemocratic institution. It undermines the principle of “one person, one vote,” affirmed in 1964 by the Supreme Court in Reynolds v. Sims — a key part of the civil and voting rights revolution of that decade. It produces recurring political crises. And it threatens to delegitimize the entire political system by creating larger and larger splits between who wins the public and who wins the states.
Many readers disagreed, making arguments similar to those used by the president and his allies. But those claims — that the Electoral College ensures rural representation, that its counter-majoritarian outcomes reflect the intentions of the framers and that it keeps large states from dominating small ones — don’t follow from the facts and are rooted more in folk civics than in how the system plays out in reality.
Take rural representation. If you conceive of rural America as a set of states, the Electoral College does give voters in Iowa or Montana or Wyoming a sizable say in the selection of the president. If you conceive of it as a population of voters, on the other hand, the picture is different. Roughly 60 million Americans live in rural counties, and they aren’t all concentrated in “rural” states. Millions live in large and midsize states like California, New York, Illinois, Alabama and South Carolina.
With a national popular vote for president, you could imagine a Republican campaign that links rural voters in California — where five million people live in rural counties — to those in New York, where roughly 1.4 million people live in rural counties. In other words, rural interests would be represented from coast to coast, as opposed to a system that only weights those who live in swing states.
Totaling the 2016 numbers, Sam Wang, a molecular biologist at Princeton who also runs a widely read election website, found that out of almost 400 campaign stops made after the conventions, neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump made appearances in Arkansas, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, the Dakotas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia or Vermont. It doesn’t matter that Trump won millions of votes in New Jersey or that Hillary Clinton won millions in Texas. If your state is reliably red or blue, you are ignored.
By contrast, under a national popular vote, the margin of your loss within a state matters as much as the size of your win. Democrats would have reason to maximize their share of the vote in the Deep South, and Republicans would see the same incentive in the Northeast (and the West for that matter).
Still, you might argue, the Electoral College keeps large states from dominating small ones. If there were no such system, campaigns could win by focusing all their attention on the largest states. As a matter of math, that is unlikely. In 2016, New York, California, Texas and Florida cast about 35 million ballots, roughly a quarter of the total 137 million. Even if you somehow won every single one of those ballots, you’d still have to campaign elsewhere for tens of millions more votes, assuming a 50 percent threshold. Take the total of 2016 presidential votes in the 10 largest states, and you’d get only 71 million ballots, or about 52 percent of the vote.
In the incredible event that a candidate won every ballot cast in those states, then yes, under a national popular vote, he or she could ignore the rest of the country and become president. But that isn’t politically possible. Even an attempt to “run up the score” and retreat to the largest cities isn’t viable — there just aren’t enough votes.
Compare that with what we have under the Electoral College, where hypothetically a bare majority in the 11 largest states is all it takes to win 270 electors and become president — an actual instance of big-state domination.
Is there a case for a system that sometimes produces undemocratic outcomes? I think so, on two grounds. First, it creates incentives for political parties and candidates to seek supermajorities rather than just playing for 50.1 percent, because the latter play is a losing one more often than in a popular-vote presidential system.
Second, it creates incentives for political parties to try to break regional blocs controlled by the opposition, rather than just maximizing turnout in their own areas, because you win the presidency consistently only as a party of multiple regions and you can crack a rival party’s narrow majority by flipping a few states.
According to this — admittedly contrarian — theory, the fact that the Electoral College produces chaotic or undemocratic outcomes in moments of ideological or regional polarization is actually a helpful thing, insofar as it drives politicians and political hacks (by nature not the most creative types) to think bigger than regional blocs and 51 percent majorities.
Thus the electoral/popular split of 1888 pointed the way to William McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt’s national Republican majorities, and the near-splits of 1968 and 1976 pushed us toward Reagan’s nationwide landslides and Bill Clinton’s successful center-left campaigns. Time and again a close election leads to hand-wringing about the need for Electoral College reform; time and again, politicians and parties respond to the college’s incentives, and more capacious and unifying majorities are born.
Does this theory fit our current situation? In a sense, yes. Donald Trump could win the presidency without a popular-vote majority only because both parties have been locked into base-turnout strategies that are partially responsible for our government’s ineffectiveness and gridlock. And to the extent that Hillary Clinton’s campaign leaned into this polarization (writing off many constituencies that her husband competed for), she deserved her electoral-college loss.
Trump could also only win the presidency without a popular-vote majority because a large region of the country, the greater Rust Belt and Appalachia, had been neglected by both parties’ policies over the preceding decades, leading to a slow-building social crisis that the national press only really noticed because of Trump’s political success. In this sense, Clinton’s weird post-election boast that her half of the country was way more economically dynamic indicated the advantages of a system where a declining region can punch above its popular-vote weight — because it makes it harder for a party associated with economic winners to simply write the losers off.
Students, read both articles, then tell us:
— Has your opinion about the Electoral College changed at all? If so, how? If not, why not?
— What does “democracy” mean to you? Given your understanding, do you believe the Electoral College is democratic? Why or why not?
— The Electoral College has elected a president who did not win the popular vote twice in the past 20 years, in 2000 and 2016. Do you think this means the system is broken? Or is it working the way it is supposed to?
— Is the Electoral College a good way of making sure every citizen’s vote counts? Why or why not?
— Do you think the United States should get rid of the Electoral College? If so, why and what should replace it? If not, why not?
The maker of denim and Dockers, which traces its roots to the California Gold Rush, Levi’s will start trading on the public markets on Thursday for the second time in its 165-year history. The listing is a milestone for Levi’s, which has experienced a resurgence in the past decade, overhauling its image, operations and the stretch in its jeans to resonate with today’s shoppers who are increasingly disposed to athleisure wear.
… One of the biggest challenges that Mr. Bergh and Levi’s have faced in recent years has been the boom in the all-mighty yoga pant. Coresight Research said in a recent report that United States imports of women’s elastic knit pants surpassed imports of women’s blue denim pants in 2017. Levi’s has mitigated some of that issue with the stretch it added to its jeans.
Whatever you think about the ups and downs of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, it’s undeniable that blockchain engineering is one of the hottest job fields in computer science. Demand for blockchain engineers increased 400% from 2017 to 2018, with blockchain developer salaries ranging between $150,000 to $175,000 a year, on par with artificial intelligence developer salaries.
Still, blockchain companies have found that outdated regulations at the federal level (as well as in some states) can hamper development. That’s enabled Arizona to establish themselves as a leader in blockchain innovation with laws designed to encourage the development of this technology. Arizona State University has followed suit with blockchain courses as part of its Online Master of Computer Science degree.
Arizona has been called Silicon Valley Southwest thanks to its booming tech economy, and Phoenix has been named one of the fastest-growing cities for tech jobs by ZipRecruiter. This boom builds on a history of investments in the state by tech giants like Intel, Motorola, and Apple, as well as the intellectual capital of schools like Arizona State University.
This is also due to a tech-friendly legislature and organizations like the Arizona Technology Council and StartupAZ, who worked together to provide a favorable regulatory environment for startups. That includes passing a pair of laws that provided assurances blockchain companies need to move forward with new business models.
Smart Contract Law: Because blockchain provides an immutable record and support for self-executing contracts, the technology has the potential to reduce fraud as well as improve efficiency for a wide range of transactions. And in March 2017, Arizona became the first state to pass a “smart contract” law guaranteeing digital signatures recorded on a blockchain. This clarity is critical for startups, allowing them to move ahead with smart contract applications that are protected under law.
Corporate Blockchain Law: Similar to the rules protecting smart contracts between individuals, an April 2018 “Corporate Blockchain Bill” provides legal recognition for data stored and shared by corporations on the blockchain. This will allow companies to use this technology for all types of recordkeeping and provide legal certainty for both business and consumer-facing startups.
Last August, Arizona took its support for the blockchain ecosystem a step further by becoming the first state to create a “sandbox” for startups working in fintech. Based on a model first developed by Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2016, Arizona’s sandbox will allow startups to test their fintech products for up to two years and serve as many as 10,000 customers before applying for the formal licenses usually required for finance companies.
In fact, two of the three companies that have joined the sandbox are developing blockchain products:
Omni Mobile, the sandbox’s first participant, uses blockchain to underpin digital wallets for quicker payment transfers. Thanks to the friendly regulations of the sandbox, Omni will be able to test its platform by handling guest payments at the Westward Look Grand Resort and Spa in Tuscon.
Sweetbridge is using blockchain to reduce costs and risks for consumers taking out vehicle title loans. As recognized by regulators, title lending is too often characterized by predatory lending practices like disguised fees and inflated rates. Sweetbridge believes that blockchain’s ability to provide transparency and cut out middlemen will allow them to lower APRs from an industry average of around 300% to approximately 20%.
Just as Arizona has opened its doors to blockchain startups, Arizona State University has made itself a hub for blockchain innovation. Its Blockchain Research Laboratory launched in 2017 and conducts foundational research on this technology with corporate and government partners. The student-led Blockchain Innovation Society provides opportunities for additional collaboration with students around the world. ASU’s blockchain leadership is no surprise; it has been ranked the #1 most innovative school in America for four years in a row by U.S. News & World Report. Its Online Master of Computer Science provides an opportunity to gain an advanced education in areas including blockchain engineering as well as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and more. With an unparalleled combination of expert faculty and a flexible, affordable degree program, the ASU MCS is as innovative as the technologies it covers.
Computer programming is one of the most in-demand skills in today’s workplace, coding education has become more accessible than ever. Whether on-campus or through online computer science degree courses — such as those offered through Coursera — learners can get started on a computer science education in more ways and at more price points than ever before.
hile coding can open up many new job opportunities, there’s a difference between being able to code and being able to solve the complex computer science challenges at the heart of some of today’s most exciting careers. That’s why the ability to get a Master of Computer Science 100% online from Arizona State University, a leading innovator, is a true game-changer.
Computer science salaries are about $15,000 more per year than programmers who don’t hold an advanced degree, according to a report by Georgetown University. This advanced skillset is recognized by the higher compensation computer science degree holders earn; many computer science salaries range around the six-figure sum. Here are a few examples of some of computer science’s most exciting career paths:
Data scientists create sophisticated algorithms capable of analyzing patterns in large datasets. These skills are essential for producing valuable insights across an ever-wider range of fields. Average annual salary: $118,045
Data engineers build infrastructure that generates usable datasets at the “big data” scale needed by today’s biggest tech companies. They have specialized expertise in evaluating and parsing sources, data mining from both numeric and semantic inputs, and designing the right type of pipelines and warehouses for a given task. Average annual salary: $119,306
Cyber security analysts defend organizations against threats posed by cyberattackers. This requires advanced research skills to keep up to date with the latest techniques for software and network security, including secure design, threat analysis and modeling, and cryptography. Average annual salary: $98,713
Artificial intelligence specialists develop software that can learn to evaluate information and make appropriate decisions to accomplish a task. This exciting frontier in computer science requires specialized expertise in statistical pattern recognition, machine learning, heuristic programming, and knowledge representation. Average annual salary: $106.408
Blockchain developers are on the leading edge of one of the most exciting topics in computer science, leveraging secure and distributed blockchain architecture for a growing range of business applications. They are well-versed in the theoretical underpinnings of the technology as well as practical realities of mining, consensus protocols, and decentralized governance. Average annual salary: $129,956
Just as entry-level programming skills have become increasingly accessible, the online learning revolution has made an advanced computer science degree more affordable and convenient than ever. The Online Master of Computer Science from Arizona State University gives you the opportunity to do high-level coursework in specialized topics like data mining, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and even blockchain. And, with ASU ranked as the #1 most innovative school in America for four years in a row by U.S. News & World Report, this online MCS program is just as groundbreaking as the career paths it can open up for you.
Codecademy’s very own Nick Duckwiler (left) and Ryan Tuck from Warby Parker (right) in our office. (📷: Mitch Boyer)
Last month, Codecademy and Warby Parker came together to work on a special Learn SQL from Scratch Capstone Project. It was during this time when I met Ryan Tuck, a Data Engineer at Warby, who played a major part in this partnership. So when he decided to drop by our office for the final QA round, I had to break out my notebook and ask some questions. Enjoy.
Hey Ryan, let’s start off with a question I’ve had for a while — what is a Data Engineer? (Is it similar to a Data Analyst or a Software Engineer?)
At Warby Parker, data engineers are responsible for creating and maintaining the plumbing required to support the data and reporting needs of the business. We use software engineering practices to automate the work of data cleaning, normalizing, and model building so that data is always ready to be consumed by data analysts in every department.
What languages/frameworks do you use at Warby?
On data engineering, we use Python as our general purpose programming language, as do most of the other teams in our Technology department. When it comes to databases, we use PostgreSQL for the majority of our SQL needs, and are beginning to use Amazon Athena and Google BigQuery for some of our larger datasets. We use Looker as our exclusive business intelligence entry point to all of this data.
What are some of the projects you worked on?
I’ve had the privilege of working with a lot of of smart people in every department at our company to help them solve their varied data needs, from reconciling financial data with the Accounting team to automating and modeling standardized performance metrics for our team of over 200 customer experience advisors.
As part of a team of five supporting the data needs of a rapidly growing company, I’ve tried where possible to focus on helping our analysts solve their own problems. This includes helping people learn Python and commit to our codebase, guiding the creation of data models in SQL, and encouraging people to submit pull requests to add features in Looker, our BI tool.
Seeing dozens of otherwise “non-technical” colleagues opening up PRs on a daily basis, and consequently being part of the democratization of tech that we value at Warby Parker, is probably the most rewarding “project” I’ve been a part of.
One project finished recently during our first annual “Hackweek” is called Pipes, which allows anyone at the company to easily move large amounts of data from wherever to wherever (Looker, Google Sheets, PostgreSQL, BigQuery, etc) on a regular cadence, or manually through a simple one-line chatbot interface. The adoption has been overwhelmingly positive and we’re looking to grow this sort of tooling out even more.
“We use software engineering practices to automate the work of data cleaning, normalizing, and model building so that data is always ready to be consumed by data analysts in every department.”
What got you into the data field?
I’ve always been drawn to analytical fields like math, and became pretty proficient in Excel during some internships in college. Once I had learned to program and learned more about data science and its applications in artificial intelligence, I knew that anything I could do to immerse myself in the world of data would be a step in the right direction.
Three and a half years ago, I landed a job as a junior software engineer at Warby Parker not fully knowing what I was in for, but am so glad I got the opportunity to help build tools to support an interesting and ever-changing data-driven culture here.
Where did you learn SQL and Python?
I had a background in C++, and was exposed to Python through an Intro to Data Science course. When Warby Parker hired me onto the Data team in 2015, I had never written a SQL query in my life, but picked it up quickly and within a few months started up internal SQL training classes, which I still teach on a monthly basis.
What does your tattoo say?
The ultimate cheatsheet.
This is Bayes’ Theorem, which is an equation that describes how to update probabilities given new evidence. Two summers ago I worked on building a tool to help predict weekly fantasy football performance. Some colleagues suggested a Bayesian approach would be appropriate, since there aren’t really enough data points in an NFL season to be able to use statistical approaches that require larger datasets, and I’d want to regularly update my predictions after each player’s latest performance.
I did a deep dive into understanding the (simple) math underlying Bayes’ Theorem and came out of that experience with a whole new worldview, understanding my entire knowledge of the world as a big and intricate probabilistic model that I was continuously updating with every experience I ever have. It was pretty transformative, and I figured that was worth a tattoo.
What is a concept in SQL/Python that’s essential to your work?
Donald Knuth said, “Premature optimization is the root of all evil.” I’ve generally found this to be true, and try to live by it in my work. For example, I’ll generally prefer to keep a data model simple by rebuilding it for all time on a daily basis using a single SQL query instead of making a more complicated model that requires iteratively adding to a table, keeping track of state, updated timestamps, when something last ran, etc.
A wise man once said, “Duplicating data makes things go fast,” but databases are already impressively fast to begin with, without implementing anything to improve performance. Ultimately, I almost always approach a problem thinking about optimizing for my time over machine time, for readability over performance, and for introducing as little cognitive overhead as is required by the problem at hand. Only once performance issues or readability issues present themselves will some code be worth a rewrite.
Last question! Since you wrote Warby Parker’s internal SQL training courses, I know there gotta be some inner Curriculum Developer in you. Can you teach a SQL concept in 2 minutes?
Sure! Have you ever written a query that yields some result set and you think, “I’d love to query the stuff I just produced like it was a table?” Enter the WITH clause.
Suppose I have a mega query that gives the transaction summaries:
select
transactions.date as transaction_date,
sum(items.price) as total_cost,
count(*) as number_of_items
from
transactions
inner join
customers
on
customers.id = transactions.customer_id
inner join
transaction_items
on
transactions.id = transaction_items.transaction_id
inner join
items
on
items.id = transaction_items.item_id
Using WITH, I can create a temporary table within my query that I can SELECT from and treat it just like a regular old table.
I will put everything from the previous query in a parentheses and use WITH to give it the name transaction_summaries.
Then I’ll apply the date and customer filtering down below for a more readable query, to separate out all the JOIN logic from the actual WHERE filters that I want to apply on that data.
with transaction_summaries as (
select
transactions.date as transaction_date,
sum(items.price) as total_cost,
count(*) as number_of_items
from
transactions
inner join
customers
on
customers.id = transactions.customer_id
inner join
transaction_items
on
transactions.id = transaction_items.transaction_id
inner join
items
on
items.id = transaction_items.item_id
)
select
*
from
transaction_summaries
where
first_name = 'beyonce'
and
transaction_date > '2018–01–01'
order by
total_cost desc
limit
5
If you’re familiar with subqueries, this does a similar thing but makes the SQL far more readable, even if your query isn’t quite as performant as it would have been. This is essentially an implementation of the mantra “Don’t Repeat Yourself” that’s common in the world of programming.
Incredible. And love the SQL styling! 😍
Huge shout out to Ryan and the whole Warby Parker team for making this partnership happen. Special hat tips for behind-the-scenes support from:
Over the past few months, I have had the pleasure of working on a Science of Learning grant through the Learning Agency, funded by the Overdeck Family Foundation (see here). Through this grant, professors and researchers with expertise in the science of learning have been paired with K-12 teachers across the country. Each team is then assigned a strategy that has been shown to be effective through research, and we work together to help implement the strategy in the classroom.
I’m on a team with two middle school math teachers at Sky View Middle School in Leominster, Massachusetts, and another team with an English and Biology teacher at Douglas High School in Memphis, Tennessee. The middle school math teachers and I are working on implementing interleaving, which is the concept of switching between ideas or problems during practice. (You can learn more about interleaving here.) With the high school English and biology teachers, we’re implementing dual coding, which is the concept of combining words and visual representations. (You can learn more about dual coding here.)
I liked this idea a lot when it was originally pitched–putting together teams of researchers and teachers to bring expertise from different perspectives and knowledge bases, is just brilliant. Now that I’m actually getting to experience it myself, I am loving this project even more! Meeting up with teachers, talking about teaching practices, and getting to observe live classroom interactions has been amazing. I am learning so much, and my immense respect for K-12 teachers is only growing. In continued follow-up with the teachers, it sounds like they are enjoying the project as well and learning a lot. (Bi-directional communication for the win!)
It is probably not possible for everyone in education to do this – as much fun as we’re having, I know the logistics are complicated, time consuming, and expensive, and I definitely do not want to gloss over this part. But there are definitely common themes that I have noticed keep coming up as we all work together, and others may benefit from these.
I’ve noticed that it seems to work really well trying to implement one effective study strategy at a time. Can classroom instruction benefit from multiple evidence-based strategies? Of course, and other strategies, like adding in retrieval practice and spacing, keep coming up in the teams as we talk about the primary strategy (i.e., interleaving and dual coding). However, when many things are changed all at once, it becomes extremely difficult to figure out exactly what is working well for the classroom and what is not working as well as it could be. Complete overhauls are also very time consuming and unrealistic for most teachers, and attempting to do so may become overwhelming and lead to failure. Rather, it is best, in my opinion, to start with a few small changes that are likely to have a large impact on learning in the classroom. This way, teachers can monitor what is working well and what needs to be modified, and can continue to make small changes during each new year. Working with one strategy at a time and really learning this strategy falls in line with this method.
We also must consider the ever-present issue of time. Tackling one strategy at once, as mentioned above, does help with instructor time. But time is a big issue. It’s not just an issue of when to find the time to plan all of these extra learning strategies, but also an issue of when to find time in the classroom to add in all of these strategies! It is important to remember that these effective strategies are, in the long run, more efficient than less effective strategies. So, doing these strategies now can save a lot of time later.
Further, all of the teachers on my teams have noted that when looking at their own teaching practices they are already using the strategies in some ways. For the middle school math teachers, interleaving was already a part of some of their instruction, but now after learning more about the strategies and working on our teams the teachers can use interleaving sooner, more often, and more intentionally.
The same goes for dual coding. The high school biology teacher uses dual coding a lot, but really wants to focus on intentionally integrating the visual representation with the verbal one. The high school English teacher realized that she often uses graphic organizers to help students organize their writing. Dual coding is not just about pictures, but includes many visual representations of information. The English teacher is working on scaffolding the graphic organizers to help the students be able to create these organizers on their own when faced with a writing assignment to prepare for more independent writing. We’ve learned that it can be extremely helpful for teachers to start by looking at what they are already doing in the classroom, find where threads of the learning strategies already exist, and implement them more intentionally. (This saves on prep time, too!)
Finally, all of the teachers across the two teams have been talking about student awareness. The teachers are emphasizing the importance of making the use of the strategies clear to the students in their classrooms. Given that effective strategies lead to more difficulty than less effective strategies, it is a good idea to make the students aware of the challenge and help them embrace it. Over the next few months of the project, I hope to explore student awareness of learning strategies being used in the classroom more!
Perhaps one of the most important issues, at least I believe it to be, is seen as almost taboo to talk about. I’m referring to men’s issues … Why can’t we talk about the higher suicide rate of men? Why can’t we talk about the lower life expectancy of men? Why can’t we talk about the harsher prison sentences, and unfair treatment in court for men? Why can’t we talk about the lack of father figures for men, particularly in inner cities? Why can’t we talk about the lack of representation for what actual masculinity is and should be? These issues and hundreds more are very real, and go unaddressed. Not once have I heard anyone talking about these issues in every day life. Not even by myself, because I’m too afraid to bring them up for fear of being called misogynist or sexist, or just having them rejected.
In my opinion, The problem that I think the people in my community should focus on the most is gentrification. Gentrification is when richer people or people of the higher class move to an area of lower class and try to make it Higher class and what it isn’t. I think this is a problem because my neighborhood is perfect the way it is (I think), but the rich people think that it needs work and that they can make it better and more fit for them because they may like the location but not the actual community. It just gets on my nerves because they think just because they have money, they can go to any neighborhood and raise the expectations of the people who own apartments and places to live so that the people who were there first will have a much harder time paying for it etc. I would take a stand on the topic of homelessness and poverty because this is also a slight problem in my neighborhood. I think that I would stand on this because I hate to see people suffer like that everywhere in the world.
One issue that I think deserves more attention is deforestation as well as the destruction of any of the other few untouched places on this planet. These places are the home of many animals that would go extinct if we do not stop destroying these places. It is important to preserve areas like these because, not only do they house many amazing animals, but many of these areas, such as the Amazon Rainforest (from 2017-2018, around 3,050 square miles of the Amazon was cleared) also provide oxygen for much of our planet and, as human beings, we need oxygen to survive. These few preserved places are not only valuable because they benefit us and other creatures, but also because they have value in their own right. The forests and mountains and plains were formed by chance. They were not formed explicitly for our benefit or to satisfy our endless greed. We cannot destroy these places for lumber or oil or iron because those few filthy rich individuals at the head of the companies that benefit from this destruction want more money.
I think gender inequality is an issue that needs more attention. I think so many people aren’t earning the credit that they deserve. People work so hard to fight inequality just to be pushed away. Gender inequality isn’t just for females. It applies to males as well. The gender stereotypes, the LGBTQ+ community, the amount of money people are paid etc. This matters to me because I am a very strong believer of equality and equal rights for everyone no matter their color, gender, race, religion or anything near those terms. This stands out for me especially because this isn’t anything that is new. This has been going on since forever. “Boys can’t like pink,” “girls should be at home washing dishes.”
Another current issue I feel very strongly about is feminism and gender equality, meaning politically, in the workplace and in everyday life. Currently, some forms of feminism are viewed as unnecessary and are only believed to exist because “women want attention and want more power than men”. I can’t say I blame the men who do not recognize the inequalities women, specifically black, indigenous and transgender women face everyday. Most men have not felt the fear of being cat called, most men have not had to sit down with their mother and be told why they can’t go certain places with certain people. Most men do not fear for their lives when walking home alone on a certain road. Most men do not fear that when they get older, another human would put something in their drink to lure them back to their apartment. Most men do not feel the fear I feel when a man enters an empty elevator alone with them. Most men have not felt the fear of being a woman in America.
Raiin.org says, “Females ages 16-19 are 4 times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault”. Additionally, “Of women who are raped in their lifetime: 17.9% are Caucasian,11.9% are Latina, 18.8% are African-American, 34.1% are American Indian or Alaskan Native..”. There is no wonder that young girls are fearful for what their future in our messed up, rickety and flimsy American society may hold.
I think an issue that deserves more attention is mental health awareness, especially for teens. It’s frustrating that mental health is one of those things I only hear in hushed whispers. It’s frustrating that my friend’s mom thinks she can cure her with essential oils but thinks that medication will harm her. It’s frustrating when schools encourage the decline of mental health by piling on homework and telling students to get it done by any means necessary. It’s frustrating when my guidance counselor says my grades are too high for me to be depressed, and that I should just stop procrastinating. It’s frustrating when my classmates make fun of me for something I can’t control. It’s frustrating seeing all of this misinformation about mental health, and it’s sad that adults aren’t willing to do more to educate us about it.
