By Paul Trunfio
NetSciEd3 Berkeley
NetSciEd3 was held June 2, 2014 at the NetSci International Conference at University California Berkeley. The satellite workshop focussed on network science teaching and learning at all levels of formal and informal education, as well as how network science helps inform and understand learning processes and organizations.
The morning included presentations, posters, and a hands-on working roundtable in which we collaboratively attempted to map NetSci concepts to formal curriculum frameworks.
Topics included:
- Teaching Teachers Network Science Concepts
- Network Science in K-16 Practice and Policy
- Network Science in Informal Education
- Tools for Teaching Network Science
- New Directions in Learning Science
- Developing Metrics for Effective Educational Collaboration Networks
Visit: NetSciEd3
Changing the world one network at a time
We all know networks facilitate human communication, deepen insight into the human condition, and solve myriad problems in business and society on timescales of seconds. But increasingly, the same ideas about how these connections are made are being leveraged against the most complex and pernicious problems of our time.
The science of complex networks, also known as "Network Science," seeks patterns in a variety of data and leverages them against large-scale knowledge management and discovery. It is used in business, medicine, policymaking, and virtually all complex science disciplines today. Network Science helps us understand everything from the structure of the human mind, to the origins of cancer, to the growth of cities, to our impact on the environment.
In collaboration with Cisco CSR, The New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) and colleagues at Binghamton University, Boston University and the Network Science Center at West Point are working to expand a program to bring powerful, but hitherto elite network science ideas into the lives of high school teachers and students for preparing the next generation of scientists and policymakers to solve humanity's greatest challenges.
Affectionately known as "NetSci High," the program started as a small research competition back in 2011 with only 13 students and teachers, but has grown to over 80, It's a rigorous program in which we train teams of students to learn data gathering, computer programming, modeling and analysis using a variety of computer-based tools along with the theory and techniques that help them do original research in network science. An important aspect of the program is to train high school teachers in both network science and research mentorship skills, so they can help students identify research pathways and solve problems throughout the experience.
The student teams work in collaboration with university research labs and graduate student mentors in completing the research. High school student and teacher teams have done research in protein interaction networks, intercellular communication networks, social networks, and technological networks at places like Harvard, Columbia, City University of New York, SUNY Binghamton, and Boston University. They have presented internationally at some of the most important scientific conferences on complexity and network science, to policymakers and published in the peer review journal PLoS One. Initial results of the program indicate that:
- Network science is teachable to diverse groups of high school students and is a compelling way into understanding complex data-driven sciences that motivates and empowers students to solve real-world, complex problems,
- Network science motivates students to learn computer programming through purposeful research projects, even students who did not think of themselves as computer programmers, and
- Network science represents a way to increase interest in science, technology, engineering and math among underrepresented populations (minorities, females, and first generation immigrants).
In 2012, NetSci High inaugurated a relationship with the Cisco Networking Academies in New York City and chose Chelsea Career and Technical Education High School to participate in the program. We recruited a team of Networking Academy students to train and work with scientists on a yearlong complex network research project with Stevens Institute's Howe School of Technology Management.
Their project will trace the evolution and movement of rumors on Twitter. The percolation of rumors in social networks of all kinds is of huge importance to society and having access to millions of Twitter feeds, their interconnections and changing content, has implications for everything from national security to marketing to education.
This will culminate in students presenting the results of their research at conferences to some of the most important network scientists next year. The Chelsea students have participated in a rigorous summer workshop at Boston University where they learned programming, modeled and analyzed networks, and brainstormed about research projects with Stevens Institute researchers. The fundamentals they learn in the Cisco Networking Academy give them an advantage in reasoning skills, handling command line programming and building and analyzing network models. NYSCI and Cisco are partnering to expand this relationship to other Networking Academy teachers and students. With the help of the Cisco Networking Academies, Cisco is helping NetSci High expand its impact through Cisco's educational ecosystem.
The initial success and enthusiasm of Chelsea experience is not only helping to bring scalability to NetSci High, but is bringing together interdisciplinary teams of teachers in a workshop hosted by NYSCI to brainstorm about ways that putting a network science lens on existing high school curricula can help revolutionize instruction through 21st century STEM skills.
By building on the success of the Cisco Networking Academies, and leveraging emerging platforms for instruction, collaboration and video conferencing, NYSCI and Cisco hope to bring the power of network science to expanding groups of high school students and teachers and eventually lifelong learners throughout the country and the world, helping to facilitate a revolution in both learning and science.
This is a reprint of article on Huffington Post by Steve Uzzo: Changing the World One Network at a Time
NetSciEd2 Copenhagen
The Second NetSci Satellite Symposium on Network Science in Education (NetSciEd2) at NetSci 2013 in Copenhagen followed the success of the first NetSciEd held last year, and focussed on how to expand network science-oriented educational outreach on a global scale. NetSciEd2 sought to identify trends in the use of network science to investigate the structure of educational networks, as well as exploring how to infuse network science into teaching and learning environments to help inform education policy. Topics to be discussed include:
- Network Science in K-16 Practice and Policy
- Network Science in Informal Education
Developing Metrics for Effective Educational Collaboration Networks
For more information visit: NetSciEd2
NetSci High Student Retrospective 2012-13
In preparation for our talk "NetSci High: An Infrastructure for Advancing Science Education", a subset of participating students recorded video of their academic year research nearing conclusion. We hope you enjoy it!
This work is part of the Network Science in Education satellite conference of the NetSci Meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark on June 3, 2013.
In our talk, we present recent advances towards building a rich and sustainable infrastructure supporting network science concepts, tools and thinking in mainstream science education K-16. We discuss our experiences with "NetSci High" which provides rich year-round opportunities for high school students research teams working in partnering research labs. Our approach is to utilize network science as a critical pathway to 21st Century skills, including use and understanding of large-scale data, real-world computer programing, the vanishing barrier between science disciplines and intersection of art, music, politics, security and science. In so doing, students gain perspective on how our complex world is connected (sometimes working together and sometimes not), an important step towards cultivating awareness in young minds.
Summer 2013 Workshop & Conference
Planning for our Summer 2013 workshop and conference is underway.
Our workshop will be July 15 - 24, 2013 at Boston University's Science Center (590 Commonwealth Avenue).
The broad schedule is:
- Monday, July 15 and Tuesday July 16: Teacher Focus Workshop
- Wednesday, July 17: Welcome, Class of 2013 Conference, Keynotes
- Thursday, July 18 to Wednesday July 24: Workshop
More information is available at Get Involved.
Newburgh Student-Teacher Teams Visit West Point
Several cadets and NSC faculty members met with students, teachers, and family members from Newburgh Free Academy to share a few of the many network science (NS) projects cadets are conducting at West Point. Cadets gave presentations on research they have recently completed and also offered the students some advice based on lessons they learned in the process. Faculty members shared their insight into why a network approach can offer a new perspective to problems. This was extremely valuable because the Newburgh students are beginning their own NS research project with their teachers.
In addition to the presentation, cadets also took the visitors on a tour of the academic area. Students got a chance to see the classrooms and buildings and ask the cadets questions about what life is like at the academy. By the end of the day all of the visitors had a deeper appreciation for the academy, faculty and especially the work done by the cadets.
For the entire story and pictures, visit: The Central Node (at West Point's Network Science Center)
Graphr: Visualizing Congressional Collaboration
Graphr is an interactive software which visualizes collaboration networks in the 112th US Congress. Collaborations are implied from the "signers" on congressional statements.
To launch the online software click here: Graphr Congressional Visualizer
Some questions:
- Select 2011 colored by party. How many clusters do you see? (A cluster is a collection of highly interconnected nodes). What are the primary attributes of each cluster?
- Select 2010 colored by party. Notice the small cluster of republicans. Try dragging them around to uncover their structure (click a node after dragging it to unpin it). What senator is represented by the most connected node in this cluster (hover over the node to see)? Look him up on wikipedia. Is there anything special you can identify about him?
- Select 2008. Notice the pairs of isolated connected nodes. Hover over them. What property do these pairs share that is causing them to be connected?
- Select 2011 colored by party. Are there any nodes that stand out as having unusual connections? Look them up on wikipedia. Can you explain what’s happening?
- Select 2009 colored by gender. Does this suggest that women are more likely to work with each other in congress? Try hovering over each woman and/or coloring them by different properties. What can you tell?
We invite you to explore and find our own connections!
