Stories of Our City: Coordinating Youths' Mathematical, Representational, and Community Knowledge Through Data Visualization Design

• In Event: 66.067 - Learning Sciences: Processes of Learning and Interaction in Context

Abstract

Contemporary data visualizations blend mathematical, visual, and narrative elements to illustrate patterns of interest. But despite their increasing popularity in public and professional arenas, still little is known about how young people make sense of data visualizations. I bring together theories from the data sciences and conceptual resources literatures to explore data visualization literacy as individual and social coordination of mathematical, representational, and domain knowledge. I use this framework to analyze data from a two week middle school enactment in which seventh-graders at a diverse, urban public school designed visualizations of public city data. Using representative case studies, I show that the framework provides traction in explaining why some groups flourish while others reach impasse, and highlights possible resolutions.

Author

• Michelle Hoda Wilkerson, University of California - Berkeley