Teaching biology students data exploration and visualization in a data-driven world

As biologists accumulate or encounter increasingly large and complex data sets, our field creates the need for students to develop skills in data exploration and visualization. Many biology courses lack the time for students to develop the skills needed to parse complex datasets and visualize them appropriately. We developed a new upper-level undergraduate biology course to focused on data exploration and communication without requiring previous coding experience. We emphasized data visualization principles and best practices and taught students how to manage and visualize data via Tableau and R. We also explored scientific ethics, how to refute misinformation, and inequities that can occur in data collection and usage.