Stitching data literacy lessons into early elementary school curriculum can be simple, given that young children can understand data use and concepts since they’re typically using data already without even realizing it, math curriculum experts say.
Latrenda Knighten, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, said most people have a picture of elementary school math as incorporating addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. However, data literacy is already embedded into class routines through real-life investigations that the youngest of students may do every day.
“For pre-K students, this could be something as simple as collecting data on the weather, or making a weather graph,” Knighten said. For instance, students can track the weather to see if it is sunny or cloudy, and then analyze that data to see if there are more sunny or rainy days.
Knighten, a former teacher and elementary educator coach for East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools in Louisiana, said educators want young children to play an active role in data literacy lessons so students have an authentic experience.
They could collect data from home by surveying family members about their favorite TV show.
Next, students can have peers ask questions about the data they’ve collected — and the results they’re presenting — so now they’re not just interpreting data but also involved in critical thinking and problem solving.
Tapping into a child’s natural curiosity about the world is also a good starting point, said Enrique Galindo, president of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators. Educators can open the door by allowing students to create questions or design surveys about topics that interest them.
“They can then work on making decisions about what data is needed to answer the question, how the data can be collected, and how can the data be organized and analyzed,” he said.
Knighten added that today’s students need some support with reading and interpreting data they may hear in a story or on TV.
“We live in a data-driven world,” Knighten said. "The more experiences you have with those things empower students to make decisions important to them.”
Galindo noted that helping students become fluent in data literacy is critical to informing their decisions. People’s choices, such as in the voting booth or at a store, are “better made if informed by data.”
“Many occupations in all sectors of society are also tasked with making decisions based on data, so for students to be prepared for today’s world they need to be fluent in data literacy and data science,” he said.