"I Felt Connected to This Data": How Students Relate to Data and Practice Argumentation (Poster 25)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session One
  In Poster Session: Division C Science Poster Session One

Abstract

As big datasets become more accessible and relevant to civic engagement, data science education is critical to help students make sense of the world and engage in civic discussions. This paper explores the implementation of a cross-curricular data science unit in an 8th-grade Media Arts classroom. Students chose a personally relevant social or ecological dataset and created a related artistic data visualization. Results drawn from multiple sources using a mixed-methods approach indicate that students show an awareness of how design choices impact their argumentation by focusing on subsets of a dataset and through intentional artistic design choices. These findings point to the diversity in how students find meaningful stories in data and the strengths and weaknesses of a cross-disciplinary approach.

Authors

• Rita M. Swartzentruber, University of Tennessee
  Presenting Author

• Lynn L. Hodge, University of Tennessee
  Non-Presenting Author

• Joy Gaulden Bertling, University of Tennessee
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amanda Galbraith, University of Tennessee
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tabitha Wandell, University of Tennessee
  Non-Presenting Author