Quizzes & Practice
Popup quizzes and mini assignments are short, individual activities completed throughout the semester. Mini assignments provide low-stakes practice before problem sets, while unannounced popup quizzes reinforce recent course concepts and encourage regular engagement.
Component Weights
| Component | Percent of Final Grade |
|---|---|
| Mini Assignments | 3% |
| Popup Quizzes | 12% |
Mini Assignment
Mini assignments are designed to take less than 15 minutes of your time and provide additional practice before problem sets in a low-stakes environment. There will be three mini assignments.
Your First Histogram in Colab
Upload Raleigh_Neighborhood_Registry.csv to Google Colab and make a histogram of the HOMES column, which records the number of homes in each subdivision or HOA. Submit one screenshot of your Colab screen showing the histogram, labeled x- and y-axes, and the Files pane open on the left with the CSV visible. Screenshots without clear axis labels will not receive full credit. No AI use statement is needed for this one.
Introduce Yourself
Post a short introduction on the Canvas discussion board: your background and program, what you are interested in and how you got into it, and what you hope to get out of this course. Answer as many or as few of the prompts as you like. A video or audio reply works just as well as writing. Then reply to two or three classmates, especially anyone whose interests overlap with yours.
Find a Nice Data Visualization
Find one data visualization from a news article or another trusted source, such as The New York Times, Washington Post, Pew Research Center, Our World in Data, The Economist, Reuters, or BBC. The visualization must have been created after 2020.
For your chosen visualization:
- Upload the visualization: Upload an image or screenshot of your chosen visualization to your post on the Canvas discussion board.
- Source: Give the name of the source and include the URL.
- Question: What question is the visualization trying to answer? In other words, what is the chart trying to show?
- What works well: Explain what you like about the visualization. Be specific. You can discuss the layout, design, colors, labels, clarity, or other features.
- What could be improved: Explain what you do not like or what could be improved. Be specific and constructive.
Keep your writing simple, clear, and easy to read.
Post title: Your title should include the type of visualization and the subject of the data.
Example title: Horizontal Bar Chart – Approval of the President’s Job Performance
AI Policy: Do not use AI tools (such as ChatGPT or Gemini) for this assignment.
Popup Quiz
Expect approximately 4–8 unannounced, in-class popup quizzes, each with 2–4 questions. Questions will assess recent lecture material, readings, or data-analysis techniques and will focus on fundamental course concepts.
How popup quizzes are graded
The popup-quiz component is worth 12% of the final course grade. Your cumulative accuracy is the total number of correct answers divided by the total number of quiz questions. An accuracy of 70% or higher earns the full 12 points. Below 70%, the score is scaled proportionally: (accuracy ÷ 70%) × 12, with a maximum of 12 points.
| Example | Correct Answers | Accuracy | Calculation | Popup-Quiz Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| At the threshold | 21/30 | 70% | Full credit | 12.0/12 |
| Below the threshold | 18/30 | 60% | (60% ÷ 70%) × 12 | 10.3/12 |
| Above the threshold | 24/30 | 80% | Capped at full credit | 12.0/12 |