Learning in La La Land

Each year, an international community of educators gathers at the National Science Teachers Association Conference. In March, two members of our education team presented at the conference for the first time.

Christine Voyer and Molly Auclair traveled to Los Angeles to share their biodiversity data investigation curriculum, which helps students develop data literacy skills as they explore an important scientific question: “How does a given invasive species impact biodiversity in our community?”

Throughout the session, Christine and Molly showed how data analysis can be embedded into an authentic, relevant, place-based scientific investigation. Increasingly, our education team is focused on supporting data literacy, which will enable students to thrive in a 21st century economy.

Twenty-six participating teachers engaged in activities our education team has designed to improve students’ data literacy skills through citizen science. The teachers were excited to adapt these concepts to support learning in their own classrooms.

Molly and Christine received a lot of valuable feedback from the teachers, who were overwhelmingly positive about the experience. Comments from teachers included:

"You guys have such amazing resources!” ... “Thank you for getting us moving on a Friday night. I feel so energized.” ... “This was great!” ... “Using these in my classroom Monday!” ... “Thank you! Cool math connections.”