The data awareness framework as part of data literacies in K-12 education

Abstract

Purpose In today’s digital world, data-driven digital artefacts pose challenges for education, as many students lack an understanding of data and feel powerless when interacting with them. This paper aims to address these challenges and introduces the data awareness framework. It focuses on understanding data-driven technologies and reflecting on the role of data in everyday life. The paper also presents an empirical study on young school students’ data awareness. Design/methodology/approach The study involves a teaching unit on data awareness framed by a pre- and post-test design using a questionnaire on students’ awareness and understanding of and reflection on data practices of data-driven digital artefacts. Findings The study’s findings indicate that the data awareness framework supports students in understanding data practices of data-driven digital artefacts. The findings also suggest that the framework encourages students to reflect on these data practices and think about their daily behaviour. Originality/value Students learn a model about interactions with data-driven digital artefacts and use it to analyse data-driven applications. This approach appears to enable students to understand these artefacts from everyday life and reflect on these interactions. The work contributes to research on data and artificial intelligence literacies and suggests a way to support students in developing self-determination and agency during interactions with data-driven digital artefacts.

Empowering Students for the Data-Driven World: A Qualitative Study of the Relevance of Learning about Data-Driven Technologies

“…Hence, the coding scheme for this analysis is defined deductively based on the framework, resulting in five code categories: (a) explicit data collection, (b) implicit data collection, (c) primary data processing purposes, (d) secondary data processing purposes, and (e) data models about users (see Table 1). We have developed the coding manual for the code categories (a) to (d) in a previous study (see , Höper and Schulte, 2023). One of the authors coded all relevant segments from the interviews (these are described in the previous section).…”

“…However, the data collection and processing by ddA and their influences are often not transparent and apparent to students. Recent research indicates that students lack awareness and understanding of the data collection and processing by ddA, and are not aware of where, how and why data about them is collected and processed (e.g., Bowler et al, 2017;Bucher, 2017;Goray and Schoenebeck, 2022;Selwyn, 2019, 2020;Tedre et al, 2020) (for an overview, see, Höper and Schulte, 2023). Moreover, even when students are taught about data and data-driven technologies, studies report that they struggle to relate their understanding to their everyday lives and reflect on it accordingly (e.g., Bowler et al, 2017;Gebre, 2018;Livingstone et al, 2019;Vartiainen et al, 2021).…”

“…2. Explanatory model of interactions between humans and ddA with a focus on the role of data within these interaction systems as an overview of the concepts of the data awareness framework (see, Höper and Schulte, 2023). and Selwyn, 2019;Livingstone et al, 2019;OECD, 2014).…”

“…Empirical (evaluative) research in CSE often focuses on examining the effectiveness of these approaches, that is, whether students actually learn the concepts taught. Currently, many researchers are developing approaches for teaching ML concepts and examining whether students have learned these concepts (e.g., Vartiainen et al, 2021;Höper and Schulte, 2023;Martins et al, 2023;Hitron et al, 2019).…”

“…The data awareness framework forms the basis of this study. It is intended to explicitly link learning about the role of data in data-driven digital artefacts with students' everyday experiences (Höper and Schulte, 2023). This study aims to examine whether students have learned concepts of data-driven technologies as characterised in this framework and explore, through the learners' eyes, the relevance of these concepts for navigating the digital world.…”