Looking Back and Moving Full STEAM Ahead

The work of a teacher rarely ceases once the doors of the school finally close for summer vacation. Just a few short days after the school year had ended, I had the opportunity to head back to my old high school stomping grounds and reconnect with many of the teachers who were, and in some cases continue to be, my most influential mentors, helping to shape me as a learner and as a person. But this time, instead of turning to former teachers for wisdom, I was suddenly being treated as the “expert” in the room.

Before I reflect on this experience, it might help to give you some background on how this meeting came to be. Before my time here as an intern with the Oceans of Data Institute (ODI) through Northeastern University’s co-op program, I attended Souhegan High School, in the small suburban town of Amherst, New Hampshire, about an hour outside of Boston. For about 25 years, Souhegan has been a model for progressive, reform-based education, in a public school setting. Ideas like project-based learning, student-teacher collaboration, learner expectations/competencies, and constant reflection have been staples of the school’s pedagogical practices. So, given both the reflective and forward-thinking nature of the school, I wasn’t too surprised when I heard the math and science departments were convening for a collaborative summer workshop to discuss emerging topics in STEAM education. The departments identified major cross-cutting topics to discuss, with the goal of deepening their own understanding as educators and thinking about ways to engage students in these STEAM topics in the context of current course curriculum. The group at the workshop explored computer programming, 3D design and animation, robotics, data collection and analysis with probes, and (where I entered the picture) big data.

I had the pleasure of sharing some of ODI’s work—including my recent work on Ocean Tracks College Edition—and helping to lead a discussion around implementing learning activities that give students access to large, complex, professionally collected (CLIP) data sets. Conversation was lively—science and math teachers alike were seeing cross curricular connections, asking questions, and sharing ideas. Even the sole humanities teacher in attendance was excited about the opportunities to have students explore various data visualizations in popular news articles or pursue a project focused on data journalism, in which students would create their own infographics.

But the conversation also reminded us that implementing curriculum that helps build student data literacy is certainly no easy task. Large, professionally collected data sets are messy and the tools used by experts to analyze the data often require a steep learning curve for students and teachers alike. The extraneous cognitive load required to learn these new tools often inhibits students’ ability to truly engage in the data. This is especially true when data literacy activities are placed in an already time-crunched, jam-packed high school curriculum—one of many concerns raised by the group.

The teachers’ concerns were sobering, but reinforced the importance of our work at the Oceans of Data Institute. Like many other educators, the teachers at Souhegan are realizing the importance of using data effectively, yet our current education systems aren’t adequately equipped to produce students with the knowledge and skills to make wise use of data. In light of this, it is important for ODI to act as facilitators of these productive conversations and bring together education experts and industry professionals to map out a K-16 education revolution, with data literacy at its core. At the same time, we must also continue to build off of what we’ve learned from projects like Ocean Tracks, as we continue to research, develop, and test new data literacy tools and curricula to help address the concerns like those raised by the teachers at Souhegan.

While my trip to Souhegan certainly had its ups and downs, it was good to be reminded of the importance of our work at ODI, and be grounded by the experiences and concerns of teachers who will be using the curricula and tools we look to create.

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