Data Analysis in the Science Classroom

In the science classroom I struggle to make data analysis accessible to all students. Every year I try to work on things that I know can be improved upon and this year I have chosen Data Literacy.

Today we took a break from our scope and sequence to dip our toes into the first data literacy lesson I planned. It was simple. It was short and accessible to all. The students had to create a pie chart of things that are important to them an break down each slice with an explanation.

Not being a math teacher I was surprised at the amount of questions that I had to field about pie charts. My favorite one of the day was why does the chart need to equal 100%, why can't it just be any number?

I used the analogy of a glass of water. When the cup is full to the brim, its at 100%. If you add more water it flows over, a cup can't be 150% full or water would be on the table. The simple understanding of how data is generated can help students understand what the purpose of data is. Having students create a pie chart about themselves allowed all learners an access point to basic analysis providing them with a low risk learning environment

In a few weeks we are going to circle back to their pie charts and graph the data in another way working towards our data literacy goals.

Note* the idea of the pie chart originated from Turner's Graph of the Week. Check out their website if you'd like to incorporate more data literacy in your classroom.

See student example below.