A Teaching Routine for Working With Existing Data in Science Classrooms

Abstract

Working with existing data is central to science investigations, but students and educators have generally not had experience using existing data sets to answer their own questions. We introduce a teaching routine that makes explicit critical steps in the process of working with data to gain insight into real-world phenomena. We intend the routine to support both curriculum developers and teachers in designing and enacting lessons to support students in engaging productively with scientific data, focusing on steps that are not commonly encountered in science classes.