Co-Designing for Critical Data Storytelling With Middle School ELA (English Language Arts) and Art Teachers (Poster 1)

• In Event: Exploring Critical Data Literacy in K–12 Social Studies

Abstract

Growing attention is being paid to the arts as a means to developing students’ critical data literacies. However, it can be challenging to design and implement such interdisciplinary curriculum within schools’ typical disciplinary silos.
We engaged one 8th-grade art teacher and one 7th-grade ELA teacher from two different schools, in separate co-design efforts to create arts-integrated data literacy units for their classrooms. While teachers previously collaborated with others to create and implement initial versions of their units, during the second year, they alone contributed to re-designing and implementing their units. We had 7 meetings with the Art teacher and 4 meetings with the ELA teacher over 2 months, during which we co-developed and solicited feedback on activities and model artworks. The art teacher had a background in public health and aimed to engage her students (eighth-graders from a private middle school in a large urban area, 85% Latine and Black or African American) in creating data visualizations, asking critical questions about data, and making data-based claims.
To investigate how co-design activities engaged ELA and art teachers in designing for critical data storytelling practices, two researchers engaged in thematic analysis of artifacts and transcripts from co-design sessions (Braun & Clarke, 2012; D'Ignazio & Klein 2020). We then constructed two case studies to compare and contrast the co-design experiences and outcomes of each team (Yin, 2018).
The final unit co-designed by the art teacher was a 13-day data storytelling unit, spread across five weeks, where students were asked to consider “What contributes to a healthy neighborhood and why should we care?” by analyzing quantitative data and taking photographs of their neighborhoods. Students created photo-essays that drew on narrative and principles of design to communicate critical data stories (Amato et al. 2023). The final unit co-designed by the ELA teacher was an 8-day unit in which students were asked to consider “How does the way we spend our time impact our well being?” by creating a class-wide data visualization, and expressing a data-based claim through collage. Twelve students produced collages about their personal time use that drew on imagery, color, and layers to situate data in a social context.
We found that co-design activities in which teachers analyzed art, created art, or simulated the art-making process prompted teachers to design for critical data storytelling. For example, the art teacher, who raised some concerns about addressing social issues in class, created a photo-essay to draw attention to all the man-made barriers that impede access to nature in her neighborhood (Figure 1a). Both teachers selected artworks to prompt critical discussions with their students. The ELA teacher also experimented with collage to explore the affordances and constraints of the medium for data storytelling (Figure 1b).

This study contributes to an understanding of the ways in which data, narrative, and art intersect in critical data storytelling and offers insight into how integrating arts-based activities in a co-design process might support teachers in designing for critical data storytelling.

Authors

• Anna Amato Shao, New York University

• Camillia Matuk, New York University

• Kayla DesPortes, New York University

• Ralph Vacca, Fordham University

• Megan Silander, Education Development Center, Inc.

• Marian Tes, New York University

• Peter J. Woods, Massachusetts Institute of Technology