Objective: Students will explore questions that help make meaning out of data.
Tools/Materials Required: Computer
Depth of Knowledge: Skills and Concepts
Teacher’s notes are in purple. For the student’s version, see Deliberating Data Student Guide.
There is data almost everywhere we look, but with so much data out there, how do we know what data will help us learn what we want to know? This project is all about asking questions that help make meaning out of data.
First, a quick introduction to two categories of data: quantitative data and qualitative data. Data that is quantitative can be expressed by numbers through a measurement, a count, or a numerical estimation. Qualitative data, on the other hand, is expressed through characteristics and qualities. It is not easily expressed through numbers.
For example, let’s say that you would like to gather information about your peers’ tastes in sports. If you want to know how many of your classmates play a sport, you will likely end up with a number count, or quantitative data. If you want to know what kinds of sports your peers like to play, you will likely end up with a list of their preferences, or qualitative data.
Return to the data on the number of international tourist arrivals by country. You could also use any other data available to you.
Build off the discussion from the See / Think / Wonder routine by discussing the following with a partner or group:
Create a presentation to share highlights from your discussion with your class.
Produced by Digital Promise Global, with thanks to the Open Educational Resources listed throughout this guide. Distributed to Learning Studios schools as part of HP, Inc. and Microsoft’s Reinvent the Classroom.
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