CEDAS at OPPLEV på Marineholmen

On 23 April 2022, The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, in cooperation with several of the University of Bergen's partners, organized OPPLEV på Marineholmen, a knowledge festival aimed at both young and older participants, with or without a science background. OPPLEV på Marineholmen was a great opportunity for the natural sciences at the faculty to showcase their innovative ideas related to environment, technology, and education. There were cultural happenings, entertainment, and food stands – in addition to theme booths with experiments and inspirational activities for students and and colleagues interested in the subjects.

The Center for Data Science (CEDAS), in cooperation with the Statistics and Data Science Group, presented statistics via the «Probability Wheel». By spinning the wheel and making the "right" guess, children and adults could win small prizes based on what colour they predicted the wheel would stop on. Some picked the colour that covered most of the wheel, others based their prediction on previous results written on the whiteboard, and again others simply picked a random colour. After 200 spins, we ended up with some interesting results.

Predictions: White (52), Red (97), Yellow (59)

Results: White (31), Red (107), Yellow (70)

Statistics is an essential part of data science, and it can visualize and simplify enormous amounts of data. With statistical methods, one can explore datasets to find patterns, make forecasts, and to estimate uncertainties based on models and concepts from probability theory. Probability can quantify how likely an event will occur, and can be calculated based on mathematic theory and previous knowledge of datasets – and it is here our work within CEDAS was presented in a way that was easy to understand for both children and adults.

We are looking forward to the next celebration, with even more oppertunities to inspire future scientists within data science.