Teaching and Learning to Construct Data-based Decision Trees Using Data Cards as the First Introduction to Machine Learning in Middle School
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: This study investigates how 11- to 12-year-old students construct data-based decision trees using data cards for classification purposes. We examine the students' heuristics and reasoning during this process. The research is based on an eight-week teaching unit during which students labeled data, built decision trees, and assessed them using test data. They learned to manually construct decision trees to classify food items as recommendable or not. They utilized data cards with a heuristic that is a simplified form of a machine learning algorithm. We report on evidence that this topic is teachable to middle school students, along with insights for refining our teaching approach and broader implications for teaching machine learning at the school level.
Institution: Paderborn University
Language: English
Subfield: Statistics and Probability
Field: Mathematics
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4401485451