Exploring Data Science Through the Lens of Civics Education

This research study examines the potential of integrating student-driven explorations of multivariate civic datasets with middle school social studies content. It uses a collaborative co-design process to develop data-rich experiences for the social studies classroom crafted to 1) deepen students’ data literacy, 2) develop students’ sense of efficacy in working with civic data, and 3) create data experiences that are meaningful and relevant to students and their communities.

The project goal is to explore the synergies between data science and social studies education in creating a transdisciplinary space to promote transformative data experiences for students and deepen the foundational knowledge needed for students to engage productively with civic data. The team uses design-based research to generate data inquiry sequences and examine how they work in practice. Using mixed methods, the team analyzes the collaborative design process, the core data concepts and practices that become foregrounded in the social studies context, how students engage with data inquiry and statistical ideas as well as their expressions of data agency. Goals of the research include identifying (2) openings with the social studies context for data inquiry and (2) generalizable design principles for creating data inquiry sequences that deepen data literacy, promote data agency, and support social studies learning.

In the first cycle of the design-based research, middle school social studies teachers, mathematics teachers, and project leadership come together for a weeklong civic data workshop where they engage in data inquiry as learners and reflect on data-focused learning activities and resources as pedagogical specialists and curriculum designers. They then work collaboratively to develop 1-to-2-week data inquiry sequences to fit openings within each teacher’s curriculum. During the school year, social studies teachers implement the data inquiry sequences in their classrooms, and the research team studies the implementation, focusing on student data science learning, including data-based inferences that students draw and warranted arguments they make. The cycle then repeats. During year two, the summer work shifts to focus on analysis of classroom data and revision of the data inquiry sequences for a second round of classroom implementation and testing for student engagement and learning. The project is led by a nationally recognized team of STEM and social studies education researchers, in close collaboration with social studies and mathematics teachers, and includes student groups underrepresented in STEM disciplines.