Using Data in the Science Classroom

Last December, one of my Math for America colleagues, science teacher Liz Whelan, gave a talk about how her students use real-time data to investigate research questions about local water quality.

I was really impressed with Liz' talk. I loved the way in which she is having her students brainstorm good questions about their local environment, collecting and analyzing real data (included on my Data Sources page), peer reviewing and discussing their work using Edmodo, and using differentiated templates to write lab reports focused on precise communication of their results.

I was really blown away with what Liz' students are producing as a result. In middle school. This is a great example of how to use data with a high level of inquiry but make it approachable for students of various levels. There are lots of great ideas here that can be adapted into virtually any math or science classroom.

Watch her MT² talk here: