This activity is a useful opening exercise for getting students to think about their conceptions of data before introducing them to any readings.
Please complete the following three part prompt, which asks you to reflect upon your own and others’ conceptions of data. Be prepared to share your three part response in class with instructor and peers.
Part 1: Please describe your current understanding of and assumptions about data. Please also describe what educational opportunities, work experiences, and/or personal experiences with data have impacted such understandings and assumptions. Finally, if you had to, what is a one sentence definition of data that you can offer at this time. NOTE: Please do not look up any definitions of data to complete this portion of the freewrite. There are no right or wrong answers; I simply want to know how you define data at this point of time based on your prior knowledge and experiences. If you are unsure how to define data, it’s okay. Write about why you are uncertain and what you think it is.
Part 2: View the Slideshow titled “What is Data?”
Which of the quote(s) about data most resonates with you and why? In answering this question, please be sure to a.) unpack the quote, meaning explain what you understand it to be saying; and b.) explain why you find it compelling, true, and/or significant. NOTE: You can choose to focus on more than one quote.
Part 3: Go back to your original thoughts and definitions of data in the first part of this freewrite. Now, considering what you wrote about quotes and data in part 2 of this prompt, how has your conception of data changed, expanded, shifted? How might you define data now?
Folow Up Discussion: What is Data?
Begin this discussion with an explanation as to why it is important to develop a deep theoretical understanding of data in order to do data advocacy, emphasizing how data is often defined differently and thus not a simple concept. Also, be sure to identify how data is discussed in a singular vs. plural sense. Then, as a whole class, share and discuss student responses to all three entries for the critical reflection prompt above. Be sure to unpack the quotes from the slideshow “What is Data?” together as well as discuss where student perspectives of data started out and where they are now. Emphasize that their current conceptions are not cemented, as they will likely shift as they work in different contexts and for various purposes.