Designing Data Inquiry Sequences for Social Studies: Humanizing Civic Data and Connecting Data to Action

• In Event: Data Science as a Tool for Engaging in Civic Education

Abstract

Introduction
Civic data is ubiquitous in socio-political discussion, debate, and decision making. Data gathered by governments and society serving organizations determines allocation of representatives, planning of public health initiatives, distribution of resources for social programs, etc. Democracy thrives on an informed citizenry that can make sense of civic data and leverage it in envisioning just and sustainable solutions to complex socio-political problems. Middle school is a meaningful time for students to discover more about themselves and the world around them. Data is an essential tool of empowerment for students to responsibly engage in understanding and shaping the social world they will inherit.

Our project develops data inquiry sequences for middle school social studies classrooms, centering on interrogation of civic data and the connection between data and action. Core goals are developing critical data literacy (Engel, 2017; Tygel & Kirsch, 2016; Weiland, 2016) and building data agency by using data to explore questions of local and personal relevance (Gal, 2019), construct data narratives (Radinsky, 2020; Wilkersen & Laina, 2018), and envision a more sustainable and just world using the framework of Love’s (2019) freedom dreaming.

The ProCivicStat framework (Nicholson et al., 2018) emphasizes critical evaluation, contextualization, and examination of meaning for society when interacting with civic data, foci that are well grounded in social studies. It identifies challenges in the accessibility of civic data, e.g., levels of aggregation that obscure variability and limit what questions can be addressed, proportional measures, and indexes. This framework was used to anticipate data concepts that teachers and students find challenging.

Methods and Data
The project uses a collaborative co-design approach and two cycles of design-based research to develop resources to support teachers in engaging students in data inquiry using civic data directly connected to their curriculum. The 5 teachers we work with represent grades 5-8, teaching different topics and using different curricula. Data includes artifacts from the co-design and lesson development process, lesson plans and student-facing materials, classroom observations, student work, and interviews with teachers.

Results
Preliminary findings reveal the importance of data visualizations and statistics in existing curricula. Challenges for teachers include unpacking data representations, finding data aligned with instructional goals, and creating student prompts to build data literacy and agency. Students displayed data agency as they created data visualizations to explore their own questions and generated data narratives connecting their disciplinary knowledge, personal understandings, and emerging data skills. Affordances were evidenced as teachers responded to inequities revealed by the data by leveraging humanistic and freedom dreaming frameworks to support students in contextualizing interpretation, foregrounding resiliency, engaging empathy, and envisioning a more just and sustainable world.

Significance
This research addresses a fundamental democratic need by strengthening teachers' capacity to develop students' civic data competencies. As misinformation proliferates in civic discourse, citizens must critically evaluate evidence—a skill that develops through education. Utilizing an interdisciplinary co-design process that recognizes social studies as an important domain of application for civic data, this research establishes a foundation for future interventions aimed at preparing civically engaged, data-literate citizens.

Authors

• Traci Higgins, TERC

• Kaylene Mae Stevens, Boston University

• Kathryn Hobbs, TERC

• Andee Rubin, TERC