Data Literacy Education Research Articles

“Asking, Learning, Seeking Out”: An Exploration of Data Literacy for Teaching

The current study explored preservice and inservice teachers’ perspectives on data literacy for teaching. Semi-structured interviews were employed with 12 teacher candidates in elementary and special education. The findings revealed participants’ misconceptions regarding formative and summative data; their understanding of the value of formative data; perceptions of challenges related to data literacy for teaching including time, making sense of data, and reliability and validity; and candidates’ preferences for authentic data literacy instruction.

Exploring data literacy via a librarian-faculty learning community: A case study

Faculty learning communities (FLCs) are year-long professional development opportunities available at many higher education institutions in the United States. While the literature reflects some librarian engagement with FLCs, it seems limited primarily to areas of traditional librarian expertise such as information literacy and outreach. This article describes a case study of a librarian-facilitated FLC focused on data literacy, which resulted in the development of a teaching toolkit, library-led data literacy instruction, and ongoing collaborations between librarians and faculty. The FLC structure proved to be a valuable framework that facilitated collaborative learning in topics relevant to both disciplinary faculty and librarians. In addition, the tangible work products produced by the FLC serve to advance the strategic, curricular goals of the university while giving the library an opportunity to showcase its value in the academic lifecycle.

Data-driven decision making in graduate students’ research topic selection

Purpose With the advent of the intelligent environment, as novice researchers, graduate students face digital challenges in their research topic selection (RTS). The purpose of this paper is to explore their cognitive processes during data-driven decision making (DDDM) in RTS, thus developing technical and instructional strategies to facilitate their research tasks. Design/methodology/approach This study developes a theoretical model that considers data-driven RTS as a second-order factor comprising both rational and experiential modes. Additionally, data literacy and visual data presentation were proposed as an antecedent and a consequence of data-driven RTS, respectively. The proposed model was examined by employing structural equation modeling based on a sample of 931 graduate students. Findings The results indicate that data-driven RTS is a second-order factor that positively affects the level of support of visual data presentation and that data literacy has a positive impact on DDDM in RTS. Furthermore, data literacy indirectly affects the level of support of visual data presentation. Practical implications These findings provide support for developers of knowledge discovery systems, data scientists, universities and libraries on the optimization of data visualization and data literacy instruction that conform to students’ cognitive styles to inform RTS. Originality/value This paper reveals the cognitive mechanisms underlying the effects of data literacy and data-driven RTS under rational and experiential modes on the level of support of the tabular or graphical presentations. It provides insights into the match between the visualization formats and cognitive modes.

The role of the university library in creating inclusive healthcare hackathons: A case study with design-thinking processes

Librarians can utilize design-thinking practices to develop instructional materials, in the development of new products and services, and in prototyping novel solutions to problems. This paper will explore the role of design thinking in teaching and learning via the use of the Blended Librarians Adapted Addie Model (BLAAM), and will illustrate how well-designed learning approaches can be used to create inclusive learning environments. It will present a case study showcasing how an academic health sciences librarian utilized a design-thinking process to create a health data literacy instruction service that encourages diverse participation in healthcare hackathons.

Getting Messy with Authentic Data: Exploring the Potential of Using Data from Scientific Research to Support Student Data Literacy.

Data are becoming increasingly important in science and society, and thus data literacy is a vital asset to students as they prepare for careers in and outside science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and go on to lead productive lives. In this paper, we discuss why the strongest learning experiences surrounding data literacy may arise when students are given opportunities to work with authentic data from scientific research. First, we explore the overlap between the fields of quantitative reasoning, data science, and data literacy, specifically focusing on how data literacy results from practicing quantitative reasoning and data science in the context of authentic data. Next, we identify and describe features that influence the complexity of authentic data sets (selection, curation, scope, size, and messiness) and implications for data-literacy instruction. Finally, we discuss areas for future research with the aim of identifying the impact that authentic data may have on student learning. These include defining desired learning outcomes surrounding data use in the classroom and identification of teaching best practices when using data in the classroom to develop students’ data-literacy abilities.

Students׳ use of data visualizations in historical reasoning: A think-aloud investigation with elementary, middle, and high school students

Data literacy – the ability to analyze, interpret, evaluate, and use data and data visualizations – has become increasingly important for understanding and communicating information in the discipline of history. In the United States, curricular standards and standardized assessments already reflect this importance, but educators lack a clear picture of how students use data visualizations when reasoning about the past. How do students use data visualizations when reasoning about a historical question? To what degree does using data visualizations enhance students’ historical reasoning? What challenges do students face when attempting to use data visualizations? This study addresses these questions, investigating how fifth-grade, eighth-grade, and high school students use data visualizations from typical school textbooks. Twenty-seven students were interviewed, surveyed, and asked to think aloud about a historical question while using a textbook entry that included a data visualization. Results from qualitative and quantitative analyses highlight the potential for data visualizations to enhance historical reasoning. However, results also indicate that students are unlikely to read data visualizations on their own, underscoring the importance of providing targeted data literacy instruction.

Review of the Research on Scientific Data Management in China Libraries

Scientific data management is a hotspot and an important research topic of libraries recently. It’s helpful to grasp the latest developments and directions in this field and provide reference for our library to better carry out scientific data management services. This paper retrieves related papers collected by CNKI. (China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database) From the concept of scientific data management, management policies, service models, new talent needs, data literacy education, obstacles, etc.Analysis and summarize the research results of scientific data management in recent years. Scientific data management has attracted widespread attention from many China Information Sciencescholars. However, the current study still presents obvious deficiencies, slow development of scientific data management service model, lack of scientific data management policy system, introduction of new talent exists only at the theoretical level neglect of data and humanistic education. And put forward some suggestions on promoting the practice of scientific data management in China.

Study on the University Data Literacy Education under the E-Science Environment

Under the e-Science environment, the importance of scientific data has become increasingly prominent. The characteristics of e-Science determine that researchers must possess high data literacy. The need of e-Science environment for data literacy is discussed from the connotation and cause of data literacy, and how to carry out data literacy education under e-Science environment from the educational content and educational forms is also discussed.

Research on Scientific Data Literacy Education System

This article analyzes the connotation of scientific data literacy, uses literature research methods and case analysis methods to investigate and analyze the scientific data literacy education practices of universities or institutions, and proposes the scientific data literacy teaching objectives, teaching objects, education models and education strategies. It has important theoretical value and practical reference.

Understanding Data Literacy Requirements for Assignments: A Business School Syllabus Study

Syllabus studies have been used to inform librarians’ work in collection development, instruction and information literacy. Syllabi also provide an opportunity to understand course requirements for data literacy. In this study, syllabi from Eastern Michigan University’s College of Business were analyzed to determine which courses require data literacy for the completion of assignments or projects. The author tested several hypotheses to identify where data literacy instruction would be most needed:Data use in online and hybrid class assignments is greater than for in-person class assignmentsGraduate students have greater data requirements than undergraduate studentsDifferent business school disciplines have different data needs (i.e., marketing has more, accounting has less)Though this was not a scientific study, analyzing syllabi and assignments can reveal both stated and implied data literacy competencies. Surfacing these competencies and making them explicit gives the librarian and the teaching faculty the opportunity to co-design relevant teaching and learning activities. Since data literacy instruction is a new initiative at the Eastern Michigan University Library, the author also used this study to bring attention to this capacity.

Agricultural Librarians Becoming Informationists: A Paradigm Shift

Librarian liaisons to the agricultural sciences offer many traditional services, such as teaching classes, purchasing materials, managing collections, and providing guidance on scholarly communication issues. Data management and data literacy instruction are two emerging service opportunities for agricultural librarians to develop new roles and work with researchers to set standards and meet data management needs within the disciplinary context. Taking advantage of these opportunities will require new skills, shifts in attitudes, and increased interaction with the students and faculty to understand their needs and provide timely and appropriate services. This paper proposes creating new strategies, expectations, and opportunities for agricultural librarianship by constructing a new model based on the informationist . The informationist, developed in medical librarianship, offers a model for creating highly engaged liaison services. Within a medical context the informationist is an extension of the traditional model of librarian engagement in which an information professional is embedded within clinical and research settings. Librarians can have an impact outside of the traditional library contexts by developing new skills and strategies for librarians working in the agricultural sciences. The informationist model also provides the opportunity to act as a direct collaborator in the creation of new methodologies in the field, such as systematic reviews.

An Analysis of Selected Data Practices: A Case Study of the Purdue College of Agriculture.

This paper describes a survey of data practices given to the Purdue College of Agriculture. Data practices are a concern for many researchers with new governmental funding mandates that require data management plans, and for the institution providing resources to comply with these mandates. The survey attempted to answer these questions: What are the characteristics of the data held by respondents? What tools do the respondents use in managing, analyzing, or manipulating their data? Where do students primarily learn research data management skills? The survey documents that there is a statistically significant difference in data holding sizes between faculty and graduate students, and that MS-Excel is still the analysis tool of choice. Results also showed that many researchers in the College were not thinking of the Libraries as a resource for data management practices, preservation, or data literacy instruction for graduate students. The survey results may inform the Libraries in developing new data services and instruction, while also highlighting the need for additional research into data practices for specific disciplinary areas or types of researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introducing Open Government Data

ABSTRACTThis article provides an overview of open government data. It outlines what it is, provides examples, and summarizes library engagement with these data. The professional and academic literature and other web sources were examined along with government policies and portals. Open government data is a fairly recent and evolving phenomenon that promotes government transparency and invites citizen participation and innovative reuses of public data. Libraries have been responding to this release of data in a number of ways including offering data literacy instruction and special services and programs.

Data literacy: in search of a name and identity

Purpose – The role of data literacy is discussed in the light of such activities as data a quality, data management, data curation, and data citation. The differing terms and their relationship to the most important literacies are examined. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – By stressing the importance of data literacy in fulfilling the mission of the contemporary academic library, the paper centres on information literacy, while the characteristics of other relevant literacies are also examined. The content of data literacy education is explained in the context of data-related activities. Findings – It can be concluded that there is a need for data literacy and it is advantageous to have a unified terminology. Data literacy can be offered both to researchers, who need to become data literate science workers and have the goal to educate data management professionals. Several lists of competencies contain important skills and abilities, many of them indicating the close relationship between data literacy and information literacy. It is vital to take a critical stance on hopes and fears, related to the promises of widespread ability of (big) data. Originality/value – The paper intends to be an add-on to the body of knowledge about information literacy and other literacies in the light of research data and data literacy.