5 Lessons Learned About Data Visualization from Middle-schoolers — Using data visualization to increase engagement in learning Presented at the Data Visualization Summit in Boston, September 12, 2013. Abstract: Middle schoolers, a notoriously tough crowd to engage, actually have a lot to say. In this talk, we share lessons learned while creating online educational environments that put struggling readers in charge of their learning. Data visualizations were central to our process, affecting everything from how we operated as a group, to our research approach, student insights, and our design strategy. We played at the intersection of learning analytics, a rich network of reading content, and interactive dashboard visualizations. Our aim was to instill in middle schoolers the belief that they can grow their intellect and expertise in reading, to engage them in taking control of their own goals and progress, and support them in having a deep experience with text.

1. 5 Lessons Learned
About Data Visualization …
From Middle-Schoolers
— Using data visualization to increase engagement in learning
Kim Ducharme Garron Hillaire
Director of Design Educational Software Architect
kducharme [at] cast.org ghillaire [at] cast.org
&
Data Visualization Summit, Boston, September 12, 2013
www.cast.org

2. Remember middle school? You’ve all been there —
the teasing, the cliques, acne, food fights

3. But that’s the least of it for some…
Imagine a room full of kids. They’re middle-schoolers,
and for one reason or another they’ve fallen behind.

4. They are struggling readers…but they’re sharp kids.
The curriculum has failed them, and they’re bored with
the remedial materials being served up to them.

5. Changing the channel a bit…
How much time
do you think middle-
schoolers spend
reading each week?
Not in class, but just
free reading time?

6. About 40 minutes a week
Research has proven
that you get better at
reading with practice and
persistence. Yet struggling
readers are getting FAR
less than the average due
to all sorts of roadblocks.

7. What if we could lower the
barriers that are keeping
them from reading?
How do we fix the
curriculum to do that —

8. n a s a . g o v
— and offer them the stars?*
* a whole host of interest-driven, supported reading material

9. ?
n a s a . g o v
But, what does this have to do with data visualization?
We’re going to walk you through a few projects in which
data visualization was central.

10. We’ll start with a science project,

11. then talk about what we learned from students conducting
their own, original research,

12. and finally, how these fed into an online reading environment
we created called Udio. But first, a little about Universal
Design for Learning, our underlying methodology.

13. What is Universal Design
for Learning?
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY … Universal?
Diversity is the norm, not the exception, wherever
individuals are gathered, including in schools.

14. What is Universal Design
for Learning?
When curricula are designed to meet the needs of the broad
middle to the exclusion of those with different abilities,
learning styles, backgrounds, and even preferences, they fail
to provide all individuals with fair and equal opportunities to
learn – WE MEAN UNIVERSAL, NOT ONE_SIZE_FITS_ALL

15. A means to provide opportunities for
deep learning through the design of
highly flexible methods, materials and
assessments
2
Rose & Meyer, 2002; Rose, Meyer, & Hitchcock, 2005
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

16. UDL is a flexible approach to design
that offers all learners full and equal
opportunities to learn.

18. Based on research on the diverse ways
people learn, UDL offers practical steps
for giving everyone the chance to succeed.

19. Universal Design for Learning — Principals
w w w . u d l c e n t e r . o r g / a b o u t u d l / u d l g

20. Universal Design for Learning — Principals
w w w . u d l c e n t e r . o r g / a b o u t u d l / u d l g

21. Lesson 1:
Leverage Theory of Change
Given the tools for progress
monitoring, students can turn the
information into insight on where
and how to spend time in relation
to their topics of interest.

24. How do you preform
on quiz questions?
What resources
do you have
available?
How difficult
do you
perceive the
challenge?
IQWST

25. Use the Lesson 1 sample student report to answer…
[series of factual questions]
Work with the person sitting next to you and answer…
[series of interpretation questions]
Pick a report of one of your lessons to answer…
[series of interpretation questions]
IQWST

26. Lesson 2:
Use Affective Measures (engagement)

27. Easy
Hard
Skipped
Help
Used
Help
IQWST

28. Participatory Action Research (PAR)
This study engaged a group of students to survey middle-schoolers
across the country about their reading interests. The idea here is to
involve the stakeholders.

29. We found that the kids tended to focus on one
question at a time. This is in line with what
developmental psychologists say: Teen brains
need specificity.

30. Lesson 3:
Be Specific and literal (one question at a time)

31. They compiled the results and made
recommendations to CAST on what choices we
should make for their reading website.

32. You’ll notice they used clear, simple bar charts

33. Charts created by
student researchers PAR

34. Charts created by
student researchers PAR
Almost exclusively.

35. Lesson 4:
Lower the Floor (use standard charts)
Don’t create barriers to entry.

36. Charts created by
student researchers PAR
We also took some clues from the outliers

37. We also took some clues from the outliers

38. and explored more complex visual displays of data.

40. We found through user testing that many
middle-schoolers not only got these right away
— they were enthusiastic!

41. Lesson 5:
Raise the Ceiling (offer complexity)

42. 1. Leverage Theory of Change
Lessons Learned
2. Use Affective Measures
3. Be Specific
4. Lower the Floor
5. Raise the Ceiling

45. These two projects — IQWST and PAR — fed
into an online reading environment we are creating
called Udio.

46. Lesson 1:
Leverage Theory of Change
— People read more if they have access
to materials of interest
— Reading skills improve with practice
and persistence
— Giving learners tools to see their own progress
can help them build their interests

48. The idea is that a whole host of partner sites —
from Smithsonian to Sports Illustrated for kids —
revolve around a hub.

50. This hub is an early conceptual diagram of Udio —
the place students develop their “literacy self”
through a portfolio of reading skills.

51. Learning analytics underlie the system and play a
key role for students, teachers, and researchers.

54. At the heart of it is the reading material.

55. From here students can jump off to articles and
stories from a host of partner sites.

59. They can use the TextHelp
toolbar to hear the text

60. And look up and
translate words

61. Collect images
and text

62. React to what
they’ve read

63. React to what
they’ve read

64. Check their
understanding

65. And discuss
the article

67. Back on the Udio hub, students can create projects
— interviews and debates — around what they’ve
read, using supporting text and images they’ve
collected.

71. And publish them back out to the network.

72. Here’s a review called
Trouble in Paradise
based on How Coyote
Stole Fire.

73. User-created content
is on par with
network content

74. ?
How can data visualization help these students?

75. ?
Given our first lesson, how do we connect
the dashboard — I.E. the student’s landing page —
to the theory of change?

78. We held an all-CAST, cross-disciplinary
Udio dashboard data visualization challenge.
Contributions came in all forms, shapes and sizes.

79. From idea
sketches

80. From idea
sketches

84. To combinations of all sorts
Even a text contribution from our policy expert!

86. Scrappy whiteboard sketches

87. And more well-developed ideas

88. And more well-developed ideas

89. And more well-developed ideas

90. Refining the ideas, and coming to terms with
feasibility — what could we do with available time
and budget?

91. I’m a
standard
bar chart!
Landing on a solution, we were mindful to…
— Be specific
— Lower the floor — use standard charts

92. I’m a
standard
bar chart!
Landing on a solution, we were mindful to…
— Be specific
— Lower the floor — use standard charts

93. — Raise the ceiling (offer complexity)
— Leverage the theory of change (help students
develop their reading interests)
Student’s
activity
arranged
around
topics

94. References
• CAST. (2011a). Principle I. Provide Multiple Means of Representation. Retrieved July 20,
2012, from http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines/principle1
• CAST. (2011b). Principle II: Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression. Retrieved
July 20, 2012, from http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines/principle2
• CAST. (2011c). Principle III: Provide Multiple Means of Engagement. Retrieved July 20,
2012, from http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines/principle3
• Gadanidis, George., Hughes, Janette., Scucuglia, Ricardo. and Tolley, Sarah. "Low floor,
high ceiling: Performing mathematics across grades 2-8" Paper presented at the annual
meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of
Mathematics Education, OMNI Hotel, Atlanta, GA, Sep 23, 2009
• Kuppens, P., Oravecz, Z., & Tuerlinckx, F. (2010, September 20). Feelings Change:
Accounting for Individual Differences in the Temporal Dynamics of Affect. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0020962
• Rose, D H, & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal
Design for Learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.
• Rose, David H., & Gravel, J. W. (2010). Universal Design for Learning. In E. Baker, P.
Peterson, & B. McGaw (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Education (3rd ed.). Oxford:
Elsevier.

95. Live demo of Udio …
cet.cast.org