Milo: A visual programming environment for Data Science Education

Abstract

Most courses on Data Science offered at universities or online require students to have familiarity with at least one programming language. In this paper, we present, “Milo”, a web-based visual programming environment for Data Science Education, designed as a pedagogical tool that can be used by students without prior-programming experience. To that end, Milo uses graphical blocks as abstractions of language specific implementations of Data Science and Machine Learning(ML) concepts along with creation of interactive visualizations. Using block definitions created by a user, Milo generates equivalent source code in JavaScript to run entirely in the browser. Based on a preliminary user study with a focus group of undergraduate computer science students, Milo succeeds as an effective tool for novice learners in the field of Data Science.