SBIR Phase I: Census Microdata in the Classroom

这一小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目建议研究如何提高中学数学课堂中人口普查微观数据的可访问性和利用率。 从历史上看，人口普查局发布的微观数据作为每十年一次的人口普查的一部分，很少在学校使用，因为缺乏访问和缺乏软件工具来处理它。互联网和软件工具的可用性，如KCP Technologies的Fathom tm，极大地改变了这种情况。 与明尼苏达大学的综合公共使用微数据系列（IPUMS）项目合作，该项目将开发简化的界面，学生可以使用万维网从该国的一个或多个公共使用微数据区收集数据，从人口普查到1850年。 对Fathom软件修改的研究将旨在开发新的和更好的方法，从互联网收集数据，创建丰富的数据结构，并设计特别适合处理微数据的其他功能。 该项目编制的新课程和专业发展材料将为教师开始在数学和统计课堂上使用普查微观数据提供一种手段。 拟议的研究将为Fathom软件中已经包含的软件技术、用于收集和分析微数据的基于网络的技术、出售给学校的课程产品以及Fathom在教育领域的更大市场带来许可机会。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to research ways to increase accessibility and utilization of census microdata in secondary school mathematics classrooms. Historically, microdata published by the Census Bureau as part of each decennial census has rarely been used in schools for lack of access and lack of software tools to handle it. The Internet and the availability of software tools such as KCP Technologies' Fathom tm change this situation dramatically. In collaboration with the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) project at the University of Minnesota, this project will develop streamlined interfaces with which students can use the World Wide Web to gather data from one or more Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) in the country from any of the census back through 1850. Research into modifications to the Fathom software will aim to develop new and better ways to gather data from the Internet, to create enriched data structures, and to design other functionality particularly well-suited to working with microdata. New curriculum and professional development materials created in this project will provide a means for teachers to begin using census microdata in mathematics and statistics classrooms. The proposed research will lead to licensing opportunities for the software technology already embodied in Fathom software, web-based technology for gathering and analyzing microdata, curriculum products to be sold to schools, and an increased market for Fathom in education.