Network and Data Literacy in Middle School Humanities Classrooms

Your middle school humanities classrooms is a great place to do data-literacy learning!

We are looking for 20 middle school English Language Arts or History teachers to join a research project with Digital Promise and Indiana University, funded by the National Science Foundation, that seeks to understand how network visualizations support student content learning and how teachers perceive the role of network visualizations in the humanities. Please complete this form by May 1, 2025 to indicate your interest.

What is network visualization and how could it be used for ELA or history learning and data literacy?

Students can pick out individual interactions and see where they fit in a larger set of interactions, like the characters in a novel or historical figures participating in events. The things that interact (“nodes” represented by circles) and their interactions (“edges” represented by lines) help students connect data in a way that represents relationships. For example, to the right is a student-created network in which students identified characters from a novel, those characters’ interests, and the relationship among these character interests and students’ own interests. Using this tool, students can see that highly connected interests, such as friends and music, result in a larger node. Students can also trace connections along edges to determine how connected different characters are. Similar networks can be used in history class to understand historical events, people, or places.

Click here to see sample lesson plans co-developed by practicing middle-school teachers

How It Works:

• Professional Learning: Participate in 2 hours of virtual workshops to deepen your understanding and skills related to network visualizations.
• Implement: Implement at least one network visualization learning experience in your ELA or history class (2-3 class lesson series, based on your content and students)
• Student experience: Administer a post-implementation survey to students about data literacy as part of the lesson activities (20-30 minutes).
• Feedback: Share your insights in a brief survey (10-20 minutes)
• Optional Activities: Participate in interviews, focus groups, or dissemination activities to contribute to the broader education community.

Benefits for Participants:

• Teacher stipend: Participating teachers will receive a $400 stipend for participation in the professional learning, implementation of the network learning activity, and completion of student pre/post survey and teacher post survey.
• Enhanced Teaching Skills: Learn new strategies and techniques related to teaching data literacy within your humanities class.
• Professional Growth: Stay ahead of the curve with data science and literacy and contribute to groundbreaking research.
• Networking Opportunities: Connect with like-minded educators and share best practices.

Contact:

• Kyle Dunbar, Digital Promise, kdunbar@digitalpromise.org
• Joshua Danish, Indiana University jdanish@iu.edu
• Merijke Coenraad, Digital Promise mcoenraad@digitalpromise.org
• Kalani Craig, Indiana University craigkl@iu.edu

Interested?

• Participants must be a middle school (grade 6-8, ages 10-14) teacher currently teaching at least one ELA or history class
• Please complete this form by May 1, 2025 to indicate your interest.