The Basics of Data Literacy

Authors Michael Bowen and Anthony Bartley have long known how important data literacy is to informed citizens. But after years of leading workshops on data literacy, they saw just how intimidated teachers can be at the prospect of helping students make sense of sets they have collected. In response, Bowen and Bartley wrote this guide?the ideal book for teachers with little or no statistics background. With its informal tone and easy-to-grasp examples,The Basics of Data Literacy teaches you how to help your students collect, summarize, and analyze data inside and outside the classroom. This book helps you understand how to make sense of data in a way that • is conceptually grounded in hands-on practices, • reflects the ways scientists use and make sense of data, and • extends the ways of understanding to simple statistical analysis. Because it is so central to many of the ideas in the Next Generation Science Standards, the ability to work with data is an important science skill for both you and your students. This accessible book will help you overcome your anxiety so you can teach your students how to evaluate messy data from their own investigations, the internet, and the news, as well as in future negotiations with car dealers and insurance agents.