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Abstract:
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The Center for Community Studies at Jefferson Community College (est. 1999) is a community-based research institute at SUNY Jefferson in Northern New York. The Center has completed over 150 studies to facilitate data-driven decisions for agencies in virtually every sector of the local communities (e g., education, public health, youth services). Faculty oversee undergraduate students in the entire research process, from study design to data collection, data cleansing and analysis, and reporting. As a result, students apply their undergraduate learning in their own communities and they are exposed to the final stages of research as they view and participate in the dissemination of results in the community. Students observe and critique both agency use and media coverage of the studies, as their studies inform policy and legislative decisions. We will demonstrate how these service learning experiences are as equally important as the in-course mathematical content and assignments, as former students frequently share that they now know how to use Statistics in a meaningful and useful way and choose to pursue careers in data science and analysis.
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