09-07-2025
Ohio State Marion professors win grant to bring data science to teens
Two Ohio State Marion professors have secured a $20,000 grant to modernize high school math education by integrating data science.
According to an announcement, physics Associate Professor Chris Orban and mathematics Associate Professor Scott Zimmerman received the Ohio State Energy Partners Academic Collaboration Award for their project, 'The STEMcoding Data Science High School Curriculum Initiative.'
The funding will expand the STEMcoding project, which aims to introduce computer and data science concepts into high school math and science classes.
The new curriculum includes hands-on data gathering and analysis activities, as well as exercises where students download data from federal agencies like NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The activities will be shared with a network of teachers who have been involved with the STEMcoding project since its inception in 2017.
Ohio State students often contribute to and appear in instructional videos that explain these activities at a level that is appropriate for high school students. These videos are available on the STEMcoding YouTube channel.
'Compared to high school data science efforts at other universities, our curriculum focuses on physical science, atmospheric science, and sustainability,' Zimmerman said in their proposal.
The grant will provide resources and training for high school math and science teachers, helping students develop important spreadsheet and computer science skills for the workforce.
'Another big theme in the curriculum is 'data storytelling.' Students need to understand how to ask questions of data, and to focus on those questions as they consider different ways to visualize the results,' Orban said.
The professors are eager to expand the curriculum and collaborate with more teachers. Interested educators can fill out an online contact form to learn more.
The Ohio State University and Ohio State Energy Partners entered a comprehensive energy management partnership in 2017. As part of its commitment to academic collaboration, OSEP contributes $810,000 annually to the university to support faculty, staff and student-led projects, especially those connected to sustainability. The Office of Academic Affairs at Ohio State administers this program in collaboration with OSEP.
This story was created by Jane Imbody, jimbody@ with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Ohio State Marion professors earn grant to boost math with coding
