Data exploration lab

Task 1: alternative fueling data scavenger hunt

• Read this short press release and use the info/links contained
• Find and download the data mentioned in the press release (hint: the dataset I found had 2145 observations)
• Open the file in Excel or other spreadsheet program
• Explore the data a bit
• (Bonus: figure out what the variables mean. I couldn’t find a data dictionary for this data!)

Task 2: start exploring Minnesota education data

I typically have people look at the “North Star Files” but any data from the Minnesota Department of Education is okay. The MDE has a guide to uses of different data sources, which could be a good place to start.

• Find and download the data (North Star Files is my preference, but whatever you are interested in)
• Open the file in Excel or other spreadsheet program
• Explore the data a bit
• (Bonus: figure out what the variables mean. There should be a data dictionary for this one.)

Upload something that shows me you’ve thought about the exercises and lab activities for the week (picture of your notes, document, screenshot, etc).