K-BLOG 7:Data Nuggets!
The Challenge:
Have you ever heard the following questions: “What goes on the x and y axis?” and “How do I organize this data?” or “What do I do with this data?”. These questions would really frustrate me as a teacher. How do you get students to internalize how and what graphing is all about? How can students learn and appreciate the value of data visualization? It is important for students of all ages and abilities to learn how to present data through graphs. Sometimes it is hard to find real life and interesting examples of data for students to practice handling.
A Solution:
There is a wonderful tool to help young people develop fantastic graphing and data organization skills. The website is Data Nuggets. This site has it all! It is free and designed by scientists and teachers; it is easy to use and supports grades K-16. I love the fact that the data found in the numerous examples is real and is associated with specific and real research. With Data Nuggets’ 44 themes, I am sure you and your students will find something of interest. Those themes, which I took directly from their website, can be found below.
When you click into a theme, there are a series of case studies. Each one has a short description that puts emphasis on the personal aspects of the scientist(s) who did the study and collected the data (great for students thinking of careers in science). For example, I clicked on the theme, Climate Change. I selected, A Window into a Trees’s World, it is about research done by Jessie and Neil; it caught my attention because it is related to tree rings, a subject I personally enjoy and find fascinating. It has data and graphing activities for middle school and above. It also has suggestions for further inquiry. Each well-organized case study contains a teacher guide, student activities and a grading rubric.
The activities within the case study are organized by levels: elementary, middle school, high school, advanced high school and college undergraduate. Activities are further subdivided into three student versions based on what level of graph building your students are at. For example, the basic level provides the students with a premade graph with labelled axes and data added, whereas the highest level requires the student to create the graph scale and label their graph.” I love this aspect of the site as the teacher can assign graphing activities at the level their students are working (differentiated instruction). Alternatively, they can start the entire class at the first level and build graphing skills for all their students together to eventually become experts.
Data Nuggets by Theme
adaptation agriculture algae animals behavior biodiversity biofuels birds carbon chemistry climate change competition coral reef disturbance ecology environmental evolution fertilization fish genes greenhouse gasses herbivory insects invasive species marine mating microbes mutualism nitrogen nutrients parasitism phosphorus photosynthesis plants precipitation predation restoration rhizobia soil substrate temperature tradeoff urban water wetland
Resources:
It is worthwhile exploring the site to see all the interesting things that it offers in terms of helping you instruct your students about data and graphing. You may want to start with this link:
http://datanuggets.org/about-nuggets-2/content-and-graphing-levels/
Data Nugget’s Website
Data Nugget Search by Activity
https://datanuggets.org/view-in-searchable-table/
If you have any questions or would like help with this leave a comment of contact
