Becoming Good Stewards of Information: A framework for integrating ethical, civic, and professional formation throughout the statistics and data science curriculum

Abstract

Recent recommendations in statistics and data science education emphasize goals that extend beyond content mastery, including statistical literacy, evidence-based decision-making, communication, ethics, responsible use of data, and civic responsibility. We argue these goals can all be understood through a common lens: helping students become better stewards of information. Stewardship of information provides a unifying framework for the formation of students as statisticians, data scientists, and citizens who are thoughtful producers and consumers of data and evidence, communicate findings with integrity and transparency, engage critically with data ethics, recognize the human beings behind the data, and harness data to make informed decisions, serve communities, and advance the common good. We present stewardship of information as a developmental model that can be introduced early and revisited with increasing sophistication across a curriculum, including in introductory, advanced, applied, and theoretical courses. To illustrate this approach, we provide concrete examples of course activities and curated weekly readings as a low-barrier implementation strategy and present preliminary evidence of student engagement with the framework. By offering both a conceptual foundation and practical implementation strategies, this paper contributes a coherent approach for integrating ethical, professional, and civic formation across the statistics and data science curriculum.