Building a community to engage students in data from the NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative to enhance data literacy: The OOI Data Labs design workshop model

Introductory courses in oceanography typically cover a wide range of ocean science concepts, but often spend little time with authentic datasets, apart from idealized data depictions found in many textbooks. For many undergraduate students, these courses may be one of the few opportunities they have to engage in scientific practices like analyzing and interpreting data. Since 2018, the OOI Data Labs project has worked to engage a community of undergraduate educators in collaboratively developing practical, data-focused activities that connect datasets and science from the NSF Ocean Observations Initiative (OOI) with concepts taught in typical oceanography courses. The community-developed collection of activities includes several dozen web-based interactive “Data Explorations” and an online “Lab Manual” of activities. These resources were developed through a series of iterative design workshops, which included sessions on effective pedagogy, data literacy skills, and scaffolding oceanographic concepts with relevant datasets from the NSF OOI. This past fall, we gathered community members to develop a 3rd edition of the Lab Manual with new and revised activities. The next version will also add several Python notebook-based activities, allowing students to use a guided inquiry-based approach to explore additional relevant datasets. We will share our design approach, lessons learned in engaging the community, and the challenges of translating datasets for use in student activities.

Presentation Preference: Either

Primary Presenter: Charles Lichtenwalner, Rutgers University (sage@marine.rutgers.edu)

Authors:

Janice McDonnell, Rutgers University  (mcdonnel@marine.rutgers.edu)

Charles Lichtenwalner, Rutgers University  (sage@marine.rutgers.edu)

Denise Bristol, Hillsborough Community College-SouthShore  (dbristol@hccfl.edu)

Anna Pfeiffer-Herbert, Stockton University  (Anna.Pfeiffer-Herbert@stockton.edu)

Dax Soule, Queens College CUNY  (dax.soule@qc.cuny.edu)