By Zac Amos
Data is becoming an essential part of every industry, including education. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students benefit from practicing, handling, and interpreting data for better comprehension. Therefore, teachers who infuse data literacy in STEM education can set their students up for long-term success.
This article explores five educator strategies for implementing data literacy in the classroom.
Importance of Data Literacy for STEM Students
Data literacy is the ability to explore, understand, and communicate with data in a meaningful way. Data literacy in education, especially among K-12 STEM students, is vital in many ways and allows better preparation for their future education and/or career paths. Here are a few reasons why it is essential:
Grows Critical Thinking
Data literacy is a skill that can help students evolve their thought processes. This knowledge can help them identify problems, analyze them effectively, and create an efficient solution — all of which are integral to critical thinking competency. They also learn the difference between real and fake information and how to recognize it. This is a vital skill in the fast-news age, as about 53% of Americans regard social media as an avenue for news.
Introduces Students to Technology
Technology is ubiquitous and an imminent skill everyone should have. It is also the cornerstone of data literacy. Many industries, especially those closely related to STEM, use data collection and analysis technology like statistical software. Students who learn the skills prepare themselves for future employment and broaden their horizons.
Exposes Kids to a Cross-Curricular Approach
Data proficiency is a multidimensional, cross-curricular approach to learning involving many fields. Beyond STEM disciplines, it is also used in language, communications, history, and business studies. Students who learn data literacy are exposed to the vastness of these disciplines and learn how they can be interconnected.
Teaches Ethical Awareness
Data literacy in education increases the quotient of learning about ethics. This enables students to explore more about privacy, security, bias, and transparency in data management. When transparency is compromised, holding people responsible for their actions is harder, causing discord. Students learning this in school would be more aware of the necessity of information accessibility and safety.
Tips for STEM Educators to Support Their Students in Learning Data Literacy
Data literacy is crucial for student development because it is used in many instances and industries and can also be practiced in real life. It helps students make informed decisions, empower innovations, and accelerate success in school.
Teaching this in school is more important than ever, and educators may find it difficult to ensure students fully understand the terms, concepts, and usefulness. However, there are ways to ensure students better grasp the knowledge.
1. Break It Down Into Simple Forms
Data literacy may seem daunting and tedious as a subject, but teachers can break it into simpler and more comprehensible subtopics. They can start with the basics, like a glossary, and build from there into data collection, handling, analysis, and processing. This makes teaching more structured and learning more seamless.
2. Teach in Batches
Instead of fitting every part of the data literacy subtopic into one subject or semester, educators can categorize them by difficulty level and introduce them slowly over different years. For example, sixth-grade students can learn collection, and seventh-grade students can explore management. This is favorable since students also have other subjects, extracurricular activities, commitments, and social lives to manage, and cramming everything into one year could make them feel overwhelmed.
3. Connect to the Real World
Teachers can also relate the subtopics to relevant real-life examples. For instance, they can teach data collection based on the weather in the past month or the favorite color of students in the class. This ensures better understanding because students can connect the topics to their lives and solve problems they are familiar with.
4. Introduce Simple Tools
While theoretical studies are essential in data literacy, they may not be fully effective unless students also learn the practicals. To achieve comprehensiveness, educators can employ simple tools like spreadsheets and introduce more complex ones like data collection and analysis software as they progress. They can also use simpler equipment for younger students, such as dice, calculators, clickers, and abaci.
5. Use Different Rewards and Styles
Students have better perceptions of reward-based education because it empowers engagement and self-development. Many may be reluctant to learn subjects like math and science, so rewarding them with relevant reinforcement can help their comprehension. In addition, they can also use different styles to ensure understanding, such as visual, audio, and video.
Data Literacy Empowers Better STEM Education
Data literacy in education helps students better understand STEM subjects, becoming a foundation for their future education and career. Educators are responsible for ensuring their students understand the concepts and their applications across fields, increasing their chances of success in school and life.
Zac Amos is the Features Editor at ReHack Magazine, where he covers educational technology, AI, and data literacy. His insights have been featured on CollegeXpress, Talented Learning, and HackerNoon. For more of his work, follow him on LinkedIn or X (Twitter).
Opinions expressed by sphero.com contributors are their own.
