On 3 & 4 April 2025, Carlo Thimmesch, in his role as teacher specialising in digital skills, led a workshop on data literacy as part of Code Week at the Sepp Hansen primary school in Steinsel (Luxembourg): Recommendation systems such as Netflix, Amazon & Co know what you like.

Under his guidance, students aged 10–12 explored how everyday apps such as Netflix, Amazon and Spotify collect and analyse data – including behaviours and preferences – to generate personalised recommendations for films, series, music or products.

In an unplugged activity, students first created their own data sets by listing their favourite animated films and then compared their individual answers to identify overlaps. The results were visualised in a diagram that highlighted shared interests among the students.

The activity then moved into a digital phase. Using the Pumice website, the students generated a digital dataset, which they imported into the Orange tool. With the help of a pre-written programme, they explored the relationships between their preferences. As a final step, each student received a personalised animated film recommendation based on his or her data – offering a hands-on look at how prediction system work.