Data Science Foundations Syllabus

Specialisation description

This specialization is aimed at a general audience who may be interested in training for a
career in Data Science either through an academic or a professional route. It could lead
straight to employment in data-rich environments or into a degree course in Computer
Science or Data Science. The specialization will introduce learners to data science, statistics,
programming, computational thinking, machine learning, and the structure and uses of
computers. Students will learn current Data Science and Computer Science topics from a
professional and from an academic perspective.

This specialisation consists of eight courses aiming to help you to become confident working
in Python within the Data Science field. During the eight courses, you will work with multiple
instructors on various aspects of Data Science: Whilst taking the courses, you will learn about
a range of programming techniques from variables, basic control flow and input/output to
data structure, algorithms, and Data Science techniques to solve real-life problems.

Specialisation learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this Specialisation, you will be able to:

1. Demonstrate skills to begin data science careers

2. Choose appropriate basic datatypes to represent different data
3. Understand and use clustering algorithms such as K-means clustering
4. Explain in broad strokes what problems and algorithms are in Computer Science
5. Identify the users and benefits of Python
6. Describe how to use a learning model to solve a problem
7. Understand and use techniques such as flowcharts and pseudocode
8. Develop Python code to manipulate data
9. Utilize data science methodologies to define and formulate a real-world business
problem
10. Understand a career in Data Science either through an academic or a professional
route

Specialisation outline
The Specialisation consists of 8 courses, each of which spans two weeks.

Key concepts:
Course 1 - This course • Data
• Machine Learning
This course introduces you to Data Science from • Clustering
the viewpoint of a student studying at university.
This course, designed by an academic team from Learning outcomes:
Goldsmiths, University of London, will quickly • What we mean by data
introduce you to the core concepts of Data Science • What we mean by machine
to prepare you for intermediate and advanced Data learning
Science courses. You will also hear from students • How the K-Means clustering
who are currently or just completed their studies in algorithm works
Data Science. • Tips and experiences from other
students

Key concepts:
• Definition of Data Science
• Big data
Course 2 • Watson Studio

This course introduces you to Data Science from Learning outcomes:

the viewpoint of a professional practitioner. The
course comes from the IBM Professional Certificate • Describe the range of
course What is Data Science. That course gives a professional data science practice
general overview of professional data science • Describe the uses and limitations
practice. Part of that is provided by interviews with of some important Data Science
practicing professionals. This course will also give a tools and systems, including
taste of the more hands-on learning to come in the Watson Studios
specialization. • Explain the difference between
deep learning and machine
learning

Course 3
Key concepts:
• IBM Toolkit
This is a course on the IBM Professional Certificate.
• Languages of Data Science
In this course, you will learn some of the most
• Jupyter Notebooks and Watson
important tools in data science, taught from an IBM
Studio
perspective. You will learn about Jypyter Notbooks,
Learning outcomes:
JupyterLab, RStudio, and continue your study of
• Recognise and do some
Watson Studio. You will also learn about what each
rudimentary design in several
tool is used for, what programming languages they
programming languages, such as
can execute, their features and limitations.
Python, R, and SQL
 Key concepts:
Course 4
• Algorithmic thinking
• Problem Solving
This course will introduce you to your first
• Flowcharts and pseudocode
algorithms and data structures, as well as the tools
of abstraction required to help you decide which of
Learning outcomes:
these concepts to use. In this way you will not only
• Explain in broad strokes what
enhance your box of problem solving tools, you will
problems and algorithms are in
be able to critically compare, and assess, the
Computer Science
advantages and disadvantages of these tools. The
• Recall the basic elements and
course starts at a basic level by describing problems
construction of flowcharts
and algorithms in computer science. It then goes
• Express elements of simple
on to introduce the tools for describing algorithms:
algorithms as flowcharts and
flowcharts and pseudocode.
pseudocode

Key concepts:
• Python basics
• Data Structures
Course 5 • Programming fundamentals

This course is taken from the IBM Professional Learning outcomes:

Certificate in Data Science. It provides an • Build a program in JupyterLab to
introduction to the python programming needed in demonstrate your knowledge of
data science. You will learn Python fundamentals, types, expressions, and variables
including data structures and data analysis through • Create sets to demonstrate
a series of lectures and practical hands-on understanding of the differences
exercises. between sets, tuples, and lists.
• Use exception handling in Python
• Read text files using Python
libraries

Key concepts:
Course 6 • Mean and Deviations
• One and two-dimensional data
This course gives another account of core concepts • Pandas and K-means
of Data Science, this one more focussed on
algorithm design. It develops the core Learning outcomes:
mathematics, statistics, and programming skills • Understand key mathematical
necessary for typical data analysis tasks. You will do and statistical concepts pertinent
a series of mathematical and programming to data clustering
exercises throughout the course and complete a • Integrate the key steps of data
small data clustering project for a given dataset clustering with K-means.
using the K-mean algorithm. • Analyse and explain the results of
the data clustering.

Course 7 Key concepts:

 • Project Life Cycle
In this course, you will create a complete system in • Correlation
Python which aims to solve a particular data- • Regression
science problem using regression. Through the
course, you will learn the life cycle of a project from Learning outcomes:
planning to implementation. • Plan a substantial project
• Clean and prepare data for
analysis
• Implement a data science system
• Communicate the plan and
implementation of a project in
writing

Key concepts:
Course 8
• Real-world data
• Data Science methodology
This is the final course in the IBM Data Science
• Exploratory data analysis
Professional Certificate as well as the Applied Data
Science with Python Specialization. This capstone
Learning outcomes:
project course will give you the chance to practice
• Demonstrate proficiency in data
the work that data scientists do in real life when
science and machine learning
working with datasets. In this course you will
techniques using a real-world
assume the role of a Data Scientist working for a
data set and prepare a report for
startup intending to compete with SpaceX, and in
stakeholders
the process follow the Data Science methodology
• Apply your skills to perform data
involving data collection, data wrangling,
collection, data wrangling,
exploratory data analysis, data visualization,
exploratory data analysis, data
model development, model evaluation, and
visualization model development,
reporting your results to stakeholders.
and model evaluation

Activities in the specialisation

The course is comprised of the following elements:

• Lecture videos. In each course, you will find a sequence of theoretical and practical
videos in which the instructors explain the main takeaways of each individual course.
• Readings. Each course may include several suggested readings. These are a core part
of your learning, and, together with the videos, will cover all of the concepts you
need for this module.
• Practice Quizzes. Each course will include practice quizzes, intended for you to assess
your understanding of the topics. You will be allowed unlimited attempts at each
practice quiz. There is no time limit on how long you take to complete each attempt
at the quiz. These quizzes do not contribute toward your final score in the class.
• Programming Activities. Each course includes programming activity worksheets.
These take you through the steps you have seen in the videos and provide code
 excerpts. They also contain challenges activities which challenge you develop the
program beyond the functionality seen in the lecture videos.
• Discussion Prompts. Each course includes discussion prompts. You will see the
discussion prompt alongside other items in the lesson. Each prompt provides a space
for you to respond. After responding, you can see and comment on your peers'
responses. All prompts and responses are also accessible from the general discussion
forum and the module discussion forum.
• Assessed coursework. There are several assessed activities for each course.
They consist of summative quizzes.

How to pass this specialization

Each course has two or more quiz assessments each worth a percentage of your final grade.

Activity Required? Estimated time per course % of final grade

Summative Quiz Yes Between 10 and 40 minutes Depends on each course format

Specialisation Readings

There are no specific textbooks for this Specialisation that you need to read to successfully
obtain your certification. Instead, there are reading activities written by the course author,
some of which involve coding exercises. The specific URL links for the reading activities will be
given in the platform, and there is no need to read beyond to recommended pages.There will
also be discussion prompts asking you to do some independent research using online sources.