Data Literacy with, for, and by Youth

Leanne Bowler, Professor
Irene Lopatovska, Professor
Mark Rosin, Associate Professor

School of Information

Impact Award Winner

In this two-year NSF exploratory project, we iteratively designed and developed, alongside 48 teen participants over the course of 28 data labs (online and face-to-face), an adaptable, constructivist method of data literacy program development for young people in library-based after-school programming. The project discovered 1) what is meaningful to young people with regard to data and whether these interests can be addressed in after-school learning at the library, 2) developed a prototype for data literacy programming at the public library for teens, and 3) contributed to theory about engagement in STEM learning in after-school settings, with specific reference to learning around data in the public library.

Teen participants found their participation in the design project to be interesting, fun, and useful. They gained a raised awareness of data literacy, a sense of agency in terms of their contribution to the library and community, as well as experience with participatory design methods. They also valued connecting with other teens during a global pandemic, whilst physical schools and libraries were closed.

The project also provided opportunities for librarians to observe, participate, and provide feedback in the design and development of data literacy activities for teens (as part of the design teams). The library staff’s awareness of data literacy was raised, and they observed practical, easy ways to weave data literacy into library programs. To continue this professional development and arm librarians with the tools to support data literacy in the future, the project has prepared resource and activity guides for librarians. This is impactful because the body of resources for this community is still limited.

Intellectual Merit: This project produced an empirical model of participatory design with, for, and by youth that tackles the complexity of designing for STEM learning in the voluntary, after-school environment of the public library.

Broader impacts: The project raised the profile of data literacy in the public library. Data literacy is of increasing importance in society and yet few in the informal, afterschool arena trained to deliver data literacy experiences. The project provides support for public libraries to move more directly into after-school activities for teens about data literacy.

Acknowledgements:

We thank the teens and librarians who participated in this research. Their contributions are invaluable. This research was made possible with support from the National Science Foundation (Award #2005608).