Teaching data literacy in high school biology

Abstract

Time restrictions and curricular requirements in high school biology often do not allow for instruction in important data literacy skills. This capstone project was designed to develop high school biology lessons that incorporate data literacy skills into the curriculum. It was hypothesized that student engagement, confidence and skill levels would improve if authentic data was used in these lessons. Lessons were designed that incorporated each data literacy skill into a different unit of instruction. Success of the project was assessed with two skills tests, student surveys and interviews. It was shown that students' data literacy skills and confidence levels increased substantially with these lessons. In addition, student engagement and interest levels improved with the use of real data.