ÎçÒ¹AV

Empowering ÎçÒ¹AVn educators in EPSCoR communities to teach data literacy skills with local research

2025 Education Seed Awards

Amanda Glazier
Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Science
UAA Prince William Sound College

 

Overview of Project

This project leverages the power of Data Nuggets—classroom-ready STEM activities based on authentic scientific data and research—to improve data literacy and science engagement among middle and high school students in ÎçÒ¹AV’s EPSCoR IOC coastal communities. We will provide professional development for teachers that connects local mariculture research to data-centered science instruction, helping educators foster critical thinking and scientific reasoning in students. Our project focuses on:

• Student learning through place-based education designed to engage students with local research to improve data and scientific literacy with connections to ÎçÒ¹AV mariculture.
• Professional development on teaching science with data tailored to participants’ needs
  and communities.

What are Data Nuggets?

Funded by the NSF for over 15 years, Data Nuggets are a collection of freely available classroom activities, co-designed by scientists and teachers, that bring contemporary research and authentic data into the classroom.

Data Nuggets feature a scientist and the story of what inspired their research. Students are given a brief introduction to the context and the science concepts, sometimes including videos and other supporting links.

In a Data Nugget activity, students are guided through the entire process of science, including identifying hypotheses and predictions, visualizing and interpreting data, supporting claims using data as evidence, and asking their own questions for future research. Activities are provided in a variety of levels, allowing for differentiated instruction and scaffolding, and  ave a teacher guide to facilitate implementation. Most can be completed in 1-3 class periods.

Because of their simplicity and flexibility, Data Nuggets can be used throughout the school year and across grades K-16, as students grow in their quantitative abilities.

How do Data Nuggets improve science education?

The positive benefits of Data Nuggets have also been documented through an efficacy study conducted in 22 high school classrooms in 4 states across the U.S. In this study, Data Nuggets improved students’ ability to construct explanations using evidence compared to students who were in business-as-usual classes.¹

After a semester of using Data Nuggets, students’ confidence in data-related scientific practices and their interest in STEM careers increased. Additionally, teachers who use Data Nuggets in their classroom were observed to spend more class time engaging students in scientific practices. Combined, these results show that Data Nuggets help students understand the process of science, while engaging and motivating the next generation of scientists.

Enhancing data literacy among youth is a critical outcome, as data are increasingly central to everyday life. Building these skills equips students to make informed decisions and apply
analytical thinking across a wide range of future careers and real-world contexts.

Why are Data Nuggets a good fit for EPSCoR IOC communities?

Data Nuggets feature authentic science stories that center the voices of scientists, their research, and applications of their science. By working with scientists in EPSCoR IOC communities, educators in local communities can teach using examples from research that is happening in their own community. Additionally, increased visibility for the growing mariculture industry in ÎçÒ¹AV could help promote the sustainability and development of the industry, recruit workforce, and reach a national audience through the Data Nuggets educator community.

 

Project Activities

We will create one Data Nugget activity highlighting research done by IoC researchers, with our first priority being ÎçÒ¹AV Native partners with whom we have pre-existing relationships, such as Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute or Native Village of Eyak, and student researchers. The activity will focus on the scientist’s (or team of scientists’) story and their mariculture research, including a curated dataset for students to analyze. This Data Nugget will then be used as a tool to promote data literacy in a professional development workshop open to
all educators in a related IOC community, such as Cordova. The workshop will lead participants through the activities as both students and teachers and include the following topics: what Data Nuggets are and how to get the most out of them, along with vetted teaching recommendations from prior professional development workshops (developed by Kjelvik) on how to represent the authentic process of science in the classroom, constructing explanations using evidence, getting students to ask scientific questions, and visualizing data to develop scientific claims. Importantly, the workshop will increase participant teachers’ awareness of research being conducted within their communities and connect classrooms to ÎçÒ¹AV-based mariculture and marine science research. To be effective instructors in data literacy, teachers must be able to (1) understand science content and skills specific to the context being studied, (2) understand where science phenomena occur locally,
(3) understand cultural-historical views and values across cultures, and (4) build relationships with scientists. Each of these is a demanding teacher practice requiring targeted professional learning support, which will be addressed in the training.

 

Products

We will create and publish a Data Nuggets activity and associated teacher’s guide based on mariculture research in an EPSCoR IOC community. All materials will be aligned with the K-12 Science Standards for ÎçÒ¹AV, with an emphasis on the Science and Engineering Practices: Analyzing and Interpreting Data, Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions, and Engaging in Argument from Evidence. Alignment with IoC: This project directly supports EPSCoR goals by fostering local science engagement, strengthening community-scientist partnerships, and increasing educational access to mariculture research in Gulf of ÎçÒ¹AV communities. Specifically, we will focus on recruiting scientists whose research addresses the EPSCoR IOC theme of biofouling and nuisance species associated with kelp and oyster farms.

 

Dissemination

Academic: We will present the finalized Data Nugget and discuss the process of creating an educational activity with local scientists at the Prince William Sound College’s annual Environmental Sciences Research Symposium. 

Public: The Data Nugget developed under this proposal will be disseminated locally through teacher professional development sessions. In addition, Data Nuggets (datanuggets.org) are a nationally recognized, award-winning program that boasts a collection of over 140 freely available activities for educators. The Data Nuggets website reported over 100,000 unique visitors from May 1, 2024 through April 31, 2025, according to website analytics, and the program maintains an email mailing list of over 15,000 active subscribers. The activity developed using these funds will be added to this collection and disseminated to the Data
Nuggets community through email and social media.

Project Personnel: Our team (Glazier and Kjelvik) is particularly well prepared to undertake the proposed project due to our extensive and successful track records of developing science curriculum based on teacher needs, delivering science teacher professional learning opportunities in ÎçÒ¹AV, conducting research on EPSCoR-theme mariculture topics, and maintaining teacher-scientist partnerships. Our team has access to and experience with well-tested instructional tools (Data Nuggets activities), and collaborators conducting mariculture research in coastal ÎçÒ¹AVn communities (ÎçÒ¹AV Mariculture Alliance, SeaGrant, Alutiiq Pride
Marine Institute), and educators who have working relationships with teachers/districts in EPSCoR communities.

 

¹ Schultheis, E. H. and M. K. Kjelvik (2015). Data Nuggets: Bringing real data into the classroom to unearth
students’ quantitative and inquiry skills. The American Biology Teacher 77(1):19-29.