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Applying Arts-based Instructional Methods to Data Visualizations

Although we’re only a few months into the Building Insights Through Observation project, it’s off to a very exciting start!

We’ll be researching the ways in which science teachers can use arts-based instructional methods and geospatial data visualizations to help students develop critical thinking skills and data practices. To build our skills in art-based instructional methods, our team attended a series of six two-hour trainings last month in “Visual Thinking Strategies.” This method was pioneered by Philip Yenawine and Abigail Housen as a means of engaging learners in making meaning from art, through carefully crafted, learner-centered facilitation driven by three simple questions: What is going on in this picture? What makes you say…? And what more can we find?

It sounds so simple – and it is. But the real magic lies in the way that learners are engaged in the process, such that they know that their voice has been heard and that their observations are valued. Week after week, we watched, listened, and practiced under the leadership of our incredible VTS instructors, Kris Grey and Gretchen Baudenbacher. The experience was informative and inspirational – and if you ever have a chance to try it, I would encourage you to do so!

Following our VTS training, the project team selected our first cohort of educators. We were fortunate to have an amazing group of applicants–from urban, suburban, and rural districts all across the United States. From these applicants, we selected six individuals, whom we had the pleasure of “meeting” (on Zoom, of course) last week. Over the coming year, we will be working with them to understand what applications or combinations of arts-based instructional approaches they find most useful and successful at addressing their curricular needs and goals. We hope to learn how they develop their professional knowledge and practice, particularly around geospatial data visualizations. And finally, we want to learn how arts-based approaches can help support growth in their students’ data literacy skills.

We are excited to have the rest of our Year 1 team on board, and we look forward to working together to bring this project to life!

Best Wishes,

Randy Kochevar
ODI Director
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New Blog! By Guest Writer: Kirsten Smayda

Differences in How Data is Approached Across Industry & Academia
Kirsten has worked in both academia and industry as a researcher/data scientist. In this blog she shares how working with data can differ in those settings – in  language, process & outcomes.

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