Teachers Surfacing Identity and Agency Through Data Within a PBL (Project-Based Learning) Module

• In Event: Constructing Educational Possibilities With Teachers at the Center of Project-Based Learning Design and Enactment

Abstract

Purpose
Data has become a vital interdisciplinary endeavor touching daily life (Author, 2020; Dorsey & Finzer, 2017). It is increasingly important to ensure learners gain data fluency and develop identities reflecting their ability to use data for authentic purposes (Philip et al., 2013). Data fluency engages the authentic context of data (Lee, et al., 2021). Interdisciplinary project-based learning (PBL) offers promise for contextualized data education empowering students to make intentional choices (Erstad, 2013). We seek to support teachers in developing student agency and identity as “data people” through co-design, highlighting teacher knowledge of students’ needs, interests, and community contexts.

Perspectives
To develop agency, learning environments must connect to and support learners’ changing identities (e.g., Author, 2010; Bell et al., 2017). Author (2020a) posits PBL provides contextualized learning through deliberately ensuring learners’ agency and emphasizing relevance and authenticity. Additionally, co-design is an established method for increasing teacher and student engagement and positioning teachers as knowledgeable experts (e.g., Juuti et al., 2021).

Methods & Data Sources
We focus on two teachers, both 8th grade humanities, each co-designing a data-infused unit in alignment with an existing ELA PBL module on Japanese American internment. Though the teachers met to discuss data practices, each designed curriculum to match their students’ needs. Each teacher met with co-design teams throughout implementation, receiving support with data practices and data analysis technologies and conducting weekly reflections and a final post-implementation interview. These and results of a student retrospective pre-post survey serve as the primary data for this study.

Results
Student surveys showed significant increases in students’ data identity and agency with data. This growth was supported by teacher choices, including: choosing datasets related to students’ lived experiences; emphasizing the humanistic nature of data; and making space for student agency.

While Eileen in NYC focused on immigration as many of her students were immigrants themselves or had close family who were, R.Atinu in Ohio focused on the racial component and media race portrayals, saying, “We went into whose story gets told in America and linking that with identity.” Teachers explored the humanistic nature of datasets, specifically considering case level data as individual people to highlight identity connections for students. As Eileen said, “I think it's just starting to think … what do all these [data points] actually mean, like these are people, and … starting to humanize [data].”

Both teachers prioritized student voice, providing opportunities for working with multiple datasets and connection points. While this wasn’t always easy for teachers, they committed to trying it out, with Eileen saying, “For me it's like letting go a little bit of some of the control and seeing where it goes, is ultimately giving kids more agency.”

Scholarly Significance
We build on previous research on co-designing for PBL to engage teachers in supporting students to develop identity and agency through data. The need for an increased focus on data fluency makes finding ways to engage students in authentic ways with data an imperative (Lee et al., 2021).

Authors

• Katherine M. Miller, Concord Consortium

• Joseph L. Polman, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Trang C. Tran, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Chad Dorsey, Concord Consortium