Hello, my name is Bob Green and I am a data geek! Oh and in addition to being a data geek, I am a spreadsheet formula junkie. Ask me to do math on pen and paper I will fail but ask me to do the same problem in a formula in Excel and you will have an answer. I don’t understand it but programming it with Excel works for me.
Example of data geek: One summer I tracked the number of times I rode each roller coaster at Cedar Point. I created a spreadsheet that listed each coaster at that time along with their track length and course time. I then plugged it into a spreadsheet to calulcate the total feet travelled during the operating season and time spent on the rides. I don’t remember the time spent but I do remember I rode over 121 miles of track that summer (okay…I am a roller coaster junkie as well).
Data is all around us in various forms each day. I think it is safe to say that as humans if it can be quantified we have tracked it at one time or another. Does this data provide us with any information we didn’t have previously? Does this data help us to change our behavior (positiive or negatitive)? Once we have the data what do we do with it?
Case #1: Weight
Those who know me in real life, know that I am not the skinniest person alive nor am I the heaviest but I carry an above adequate level of weight. While I am active in playing hockey 2 – 3 times a week along with officating games in the Winter that is about the extent of my exercise outside of walking at an amusement park. Until recently I was also a frequent shopper at many fast food establishments. At a doctor’s office visit in December 2012, I weighed in at the heaviest I had ever been. The motiviation was there at that point to drop the weight.
I was at a hockey game (sensing a pattern here between hockey and roller coasters?) with a friend who showed me his Fitbit One. At a price point of $99 it was an easy choice and I bought one the next day. The Fitbit One tracks steps taken, floors climbed, distance travelled and calories burned. The website offers more indepth graphs and charts along with other features such as tracking food consumption and sleep. After using it for a week I had a baseline of my behvaiors and then set out to change them. I also ended up purchasing the Aria One scale found on the site that tracks weight, body fat and BMI.
Gone were the mornings of eating a fried egg, bacon and pepper jack sandwich every day with a drink from Starbucks (it still happens but less frequently), gone were the days of eating lunch out (again still happens but less frequently) and gone were the days of eating dinner out (same as the other two). Lunch became turkey/cheese sandwich with fruit and dinner often times was grilled chicken and pergoeies. Two things were quickly noticed, I had more money in my bank account and the weight was dropping.
Since that December doctor visit I have dropped 25 lbs (3.2% body fat and went down 1.5 pts on the BMI scale since March 2013) through trying to walk 5 miles a day, eating less food that is better from a nutrition standpoint and partaking in more activites as much as possible. My best day walking was a 17 mile trek around Cedar Point. I have set my goals to be 10 lb incriments so that I can see progress faster than setting a larger goal. I have hit my first goal of 240 lbs and am now setting my sights on 230 lbs.
Case #2: Driving
The second case is a bit more exciting as it was my first new car purchase in almost 4 years. My previous car was a 2006 Hyundai Elantra that had 135,000 miles on it. I was content with the car minus the poor gas mileage it achieved in the city but push came to shove when I was going to need about $1,000 in repairs for a car that had a trade in value of $1,900. I ended up purchasing a 2012 Chevy Cruze and currently plan to run it until it dies.
The majority of my driving in and around Columbus can be considered city driving. I was averaging 23-25 miles per gallon. If I was doing stricitly long range highway miles I was pulling down 28 – 30 miles per gallon. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either. Combined I was getting probably around 26-27 miles per gallon. The Chevy Cruze though is much better in this regard. When I am doing strictly city driving I am averaging 32 miles per gallon and when highway driving is involved I am averaging 38 miles per gallon. My highest highway miles per gallon is currently at 38.9 miles per gallon.
The challenge I faced though was quantifying and the data over a long term than just that one tank of gas. I have created a spreadsheet that tracks miles drove for the month, average MPG and the average speed. This is data that is collected via the car’s computer system. Other data collected for this spreadsheets includes an average gas price (the price of gas on each Friday during the month in Ohio divided by 4), the average cost of fuel for the month, the average cost of fuel for the day, average miles drove per day, average number of gallons consumed in the day, average number of gallons for the month and how many total fill ups.
This is a treasure trove of data that I am able to now use to calculate and analyze to my heart’s content. I know that I drive on average 1,890 miles a month since March at an average MPG of 33.4 at an average speed of 35.07 MPH. Since I bought the car in March 2013 I have seen that the average price of gas has increased .20 cents per gallon and I am spending just under $200 per month on fuel. An average day I will consume $6.46 worth of fuel driving 61.5 miles per day using 1.84 gallons of fuel and fill my tank from empty roughly 3.62 times during the month.
What will I do with this data? I am not 100% sure. I think that one way I could use the data would be to notice any trends in MPG performance. If the MPG is decreasing that could be a sign of a mechanical issue with the car possibly. It could also be a sign of my average speed increasing. I am sure there is other tasks I could do with this data but I have only 3 months worth at this time so I am still working to figure it out.
Data is all around us and it can beneficial to our every day lives. It is how we use that data in our lives which determines it’s value. Data collection is huge in education at every level but people have different views on it’s effectiveness in the classroom. I am in favor of collecting data to help determine which standards a student is struggling with so we can create instruction that fits the need of that student. As a student in school I would have loved to be able to answer my dad with the data when he asked me “What is it that you don’t get about X?” X being what ever the math topic was that day in school. I always answered I don’t know…because I didn’t know what it was I didn’t understand about the topic but had nothing to back it up with.
I am NOT in favor of using a single test to collect a snapshot of a student’s growth on a given day and then use that data to determine a teacher’s pay or effectiveness. There are external variables influencing that student that are beyond the teacher’s control that can impact their ability to score well on a test to demonstrate growth. In addition to these external variables, we know that students all learn at different paces and have different struggles with the material.
What is my solution? I don’t know. I am tired though of seeing educators taken to task and being labeled as ineffective by people (media, public and legislators just to name a few) who have no idea of the reality in the classroom or the challenges faced. We have a system that is far from perfect but it is a system that is hopefully open for debate and tweaking after hearing input from all parties involved. I just hope that a dialogue can be established that includes all voices at the table.
