2022 IMPS Datathon FAQ

Who is the data donor?

Data will be provided from the Math Garden, currently maintained by Prowise Learn. Math Garden is a popular adaptive learning platform for primary school children. It consists of multiple math games, collecting collecting about 1.5 million daily responses. You can make a demo account here, or read more about the psychometrics of the system here.

Han van der Maas, Abe Hofman and Joost Kruis will be your first contact persons during the datathon. Han is a professor at the Psychological Methods group at the UvA and the founder of the Math Garden. Abe is an assistant professor at the same group and a data scientist at Prowise Learn. Joost just finished his PhD in psychometrics and now also works in the data science team of Prowise Learn.

When will the Datathon take place?

The current schedule is as follows:

• Early April, 2022 until June 18, 2022: Registration
• June 20, 2022: Online opening ceremony to introduce the data and research questions.
• June 20, 2022 – July 1, 2022: Teams work on the Datathon.
• July 1, 2022: Team submissions due by 23:59:59 7/1/22 CDT UTC-5.
• July 4, 2022 – July 8, 2022: Judges deliberate to identify finalists.
• July 11, 2022 – July 15, 2022: The top teams present at IMPS.

Who is eligible to participate?

Any student who is registered for IMPS 2022 is eligible to participate in the Datathon.

How are teams formed?

Teams consisting of a least two members may be formed by either a university program or coalition of students across universities. To be eligible to compete, each team member must be a registered student at a University or (community) College in the academic year proceeding the conference. Each team is limited to four (4) members, consisting of a single team captain and three (3) additional members.

What if I do not have a team. Can I still participate?

Yes, if you do not have a team you can register as an individual who would like to be matched with other participants. We will make every effort to form teams with participants in similar time zones.

When will individual participants be notified of their team assignment?

For those signed up as individuals, teams will be constructed on a rolling basis with preference placed for teams in similar time zones. Teams will be notified of their team and team leader by Saturday June 18, 2022 via email.

How is the winning team selected?

Teams’ initial project submissions are due on July 1, 2022 at 23:59:59 CDT UTC-5 (e.g., 21:59:59 July 1 CDT UTC-7, 6:59:59 July 2 CEST UTC+2, or 12:59:59 July 2 CST UTC+8). A panel of judges will select a group of finalists who will present their work during the IMPS 2022 conference. The judges will select the team with the best presentation. 

What tools or resources are provided to participants?

Access to the Math Garden data will be provided via an RStudio Server, a version of the RStudio IDE made available in your browser, to satisfy General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). After signing relevant GDPR paperwork, participants will be provided usernames to access the data.

Can I upload my own code to the RStudio Server?

Yes, see policies of Prowise Learning.

Will teams receive help and advice related to working with the Math Garden dataset?

Yes, Math Garden experts (Abe Hofman, Han van der Maas, and Joost Kruis) will offer answers and advice to questions via a public Slack helpline.

Will teams be able to publish their work from the Datathon?

Math Garden retains all rights to intellectual property associated with the data. Math Garden researchers are interested in forming collaborations with teams and participants that can lead to publications.

What does the winning team get?

The winning team receives $1000 ($500 from the Psychometric Society and $500 from Professor Han van der Maas).

Will the event be held in English?

Yes.