Technology Tools

Teaching to Teach with Data

This past weekend I was invited to run a 2 1/2 day workshop for the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative. CCURI (pronounced “curry”) is an NSF-funded program involving 50 community colleges, and the focus of this workshop was to engage a dozen CCURI professors in developing activities for their students to work with authentic scientific data.

Data Visualization — A Matter of Perception

What an expert sees in a data visualization is not what a novice sees.  This is an important lesson learned from a two-year project undertaken by the Oceans of Data Institute, funded by the National Science Foundation.

“It’s all about critical thinking”

...this is a phrase I’ve heard repeatedly from expert big data analysts since we first launched the Oceans of Data Institute in 2013. Indeed, in ODI’s 2014 survey of close to 100 big data analysts, analytical thinking and critical thinking emerged at the top of the list of skills and knowledge essential to working with big-data across a broad spectrum of disciplines.

Big Data Down on the Farm

Big data has become a big buzzword. For many though, this term remains very much a black box, its real world applications shrouded in ambiguity. For some, big data can often carry some negative connotations: they think of secret government agencies, tracking their every move. They think of large corporations following their every click, peering deep into the souls of consumers to predict their buying habits and preferences. But big data isn’t reserved only for the likes of Google, the NSA, and companies on the Fortune 500.

Helping Students Go Further with Their Data Analysis

“The data shows that my hypothesis was wrong.”

Sharing What We've Learned Through Ocean Tracks

I first learned of the Oceans of Data Institute because they had a great idea.

Reflections from a teacher: Engaging Students in Ocean Tracks

“This week in class, you are going to be doing ‘college level’ work.” My high school students in my marine biology course stared back at me with their eyes wide, but I didn’t hear the groans that I was expecting. Instead, did I detect some excitement that the bar would be raised?

Harvesting a Sea of Data

"Harvesting a Sea of Data", featured in the Summer2015 issue of NSTA's The Science Teacher, addresses the fundamental challenge in getting big data into K-12 education: how to build a good interface. The article discusses the work of Ocean Tracks, an innovative program that gives students access to authentic data to investigate marine migrations.

 

 

GMRI Presentation on Ocean Tracks: Investigating Marine Migrations in a Changing Ocean

This presentation was given at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) in February of 2015.

Explore the Powerpoint to learn more about the Ocean Tracks project, including background information, goals, and findings to-date.

Ocean Tracks: High School Learning Modules

Supporting students' work with authentic data requires a carefully developed and rigorously-tested curriculum to help them understand what the data represent, and to guide them in how to use data analysis tools and visualizations to identify meaningful patterns and develop evidence-based hypotheses.

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