Commentary: A network science summer course for high-school students

Abstract

We discuss a two-week summer course on “Network Science” and “Complex Systems” that we taught for 15 German high-school pupils of ages 16–18. In this course, we covered topics in graph theory, applied network science, programming, and dynamic systems alike. We find that “Network Science” is a well-suited course for introducing students to university-level mathematics. We reflect on difficulties regarding programming exercises and the discussion of more advanced topics in dynamic systems. We make the course material available and encourage fellow network scientists to organize similar outreach events.

Bringing network science to primary school

“…Other topics include centrality (who is the most important character in a movie) or network visualization. We therefore encourage other mathematicians and network scientists to use and/or adapt this material for their own purposes, or to share their own material, as has often been done with lesson material for older children (Klimm & Maier, 2020;Cramer et al, 2015;Harrington et al, 2013).…”