Teaching Resources
Free Resources Aimed at Improving Data Literacy
SAS has launched a course
designed to teach K–12 educators new strategies for understanding
and communicating data to students. SAS also created a set of
separate resources for K–12 educators “aimed at helping digital
native students also become data natives as well.”
The free course, Data
Literacy Essentials, offers six modules designed to provide a
clear understanding of data literacy. As SAS explains it: “The new
SAS data literacy course … introduces data basics, as well as what
it means to be data-literate. It teaches strategies for seeing the
usefulness in data, interrogating data, discovering meaning, making
decisions and communicating data. The course follows the journeys of
a concerned parent, a small business owner and a public health
expert, who each use data to navigate and problem-solve through the
pandemic. The course also focuses on the ethical challenges of
working with data. Data ethics refers to how we seek out, interpret
and present data responsibly, including the moral judgments we make
when working with data. The course covers how biases influence the
ways we interact with and communicate data. It will help people gain
the confidence and skills to question the stories people tell with
data, and also provide guidance on ways we can work with data more
responsibly.”
Data Literacy Essentials also offers progress tracking and a badge
for completion.
Two of the six modules in the course are available now.
In addition to the course, SAS has released a set of resources,
including a tool called Data Drives, designed to help students think
critically about how outcomes are influenced; a collaborative
coding environment for iPad called CodeSnaps; and a free app and
website called GatherIQ “that teaches students about the United
Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals and inspires them to take
action to make the world a better place.” Later this summer, SAS
will release DataFly, a free tool “for K–12 teachers and students
that offers a simple, fast and engaging way to collect and explore
data from students in real time, whether they are together in person
or virtually.”
Further details can be found on curiosity.sas.com.
About the Author
David Nagel is editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Technology Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal and STEAM Universe. A 29-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art and business publications.
He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at or follow him on Twitter at @THEDavidNagel (K-12) or @CampusTechDave (higher education).