Food for thought: How interface design fosters collaborative data discussions

Abstract

Data literacy is an important component in math and science, and an essential skill for participation in society, but research shows it is difficult for students to make sense of data in meaningful ways. Thus, there is a need to understand whether technology, and specific design choices, can affect students’ discussions when using multiples sets of data. This paper presents the first two phases of a design based research project that focused on data based discussions during a collaborative activity using the Food for Thought software. In this paper, I aim to examine if changes to the visual design of the software impact data discussions in two samples of students, draw comparisons between the two, and address the importance of creating intentional visual designs for learning.