Data Use in the Next Generation Science Standards

Today’s students will graduate into a world where oceans of data are available to influence and drive decision making. When the Oceans of Data Institute (http://oceansofdata.org) surveyed 300+ students from community college and university settings, 85% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the ability to make sense of data is important to get a good job and will help in their future careers. An overwhelming 90% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that learning to make sense of data will help them be more effective and informed citizens. But how well are we preparing them for this data-driven future?

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), if broadly implemented, have the potential to define science education in coming decades. To assess the potential future use of data in the classroom, ODI analyzed these standards to

• document the abundance of data-using in the NGSS.
• explore the distribution of data-using in the NGSS across grade bands and disciplines.
• begin to assess how well the data-using skills called for in the NGSS align with the tasks and duties performed by big-data-enabled specialists in today’s workforce.

Findings are discussed in the executive summary and white paper.

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Suggested citation: Kastens, Kim. (2015, May). Data Use in the Next Generation Science Standards (revised edition) [White paper]. Waltham, MA: Oceans of Data Institute, Education Development Center, Inc. Retrieved from http://oceansofdata.edc.org/our-work/data-next-generation-science-standards