Finding secondary data
Explore, locate, evaluate, and retrieve datasets collected by others to address research questions and data investigations.
K–2 Competencies
Recognize that data can be found in various sources such as books, websites, and classroom resources to help answer questions.
Explore simple, age-appropriate data sources provided by teachers or educational websites that show information about familiar topics.
Classroom resources
Data Science Starter Kit Module 2: Getting Data Ready - Creation and Curation
Welcome to the hands-on world of data collection and organization! This module focuses on where data comes from and how to make it useful for investigation.🔗
Creation and Curation isn’t about turning your students into professional researchers. It’s about helping them understand that data doesn’t just appear—it’s collected by people making decisions about what to measure and how. Whether students are conducting their own surveys or using existing datasets, they need to understand how data gets from the messy real world into organized, analyzable formats.
3–5 Competencies
Locate and retrieve simple datasets from educational resources and child-friendly data repositories to investigate specific questions.
Identify basic criteria for determining whether a dataset is relevant to a given question (e.g., topic match, timeframe, geographic relevance).
Classroom resources
Data Science Starter Kit Module 2: Getting Data Ready - Creation and Curation
Welcome to the hands-on world of data collection and organization! This module focuses on where data comes from and how to make it useful for investigation.🔗
Creation and Curation isn’t about turning your students into professional researchers. It’s about helping them understand that data doesn’t just appear—it’s collected by people making decisions about what to measure and how. Whether students are conducting their own surveys or using existing datasets, they need to understand how data gets from the messy real world into organized, analyzable formats.
6–8 Competencies
Search for and retrieve appropriate datasets from educational repositories and curated sources designed for middle school investigations.
Evaluate potential datasets based on relevance, timeliness, and credibility of the source for answering specific questions.
Use metadata and documentation to understand the context and limitations of secondary datasets.
Classroom resources
Data Science Starter Kit Module 2: Getting Data Ready - Creation and Curation
Welcome to the hands-on world of data collection and organization! This module focuses on where data comes from and how to make it useful for investigation.🔗
Creation and Curation isn’t about turning your students into professional researchers. It’s about helping them understand that data doesn’t just appear—it’s collected by people making decisions about what to measure and how. Whether students are conducting their own surveys or using existing datasets, they need to understand how data gets from the messy real world into organized, analyzable formats.
9–10 Competencies
Locate and retrieve relevant datasets from publicly available scientific, civic, or government databases using search tools and filters.
Evaluate datasets from multiple sources to determine which best addresses a research question, considering factors such as data quality, sample size, and collection methods.
Use data catalogs, repositories, and open data portals to find datasets that meet specific criteria for investigations.
Classroom resources
Data Science Starter Kit Module 2: Getting Data Ready - Creation and Curation
Welcome to the hands-on world of data collection and organization! This module focuses on where data comes from and how to make it useful for investigation.🔗
Creation and Curation isn’t about turning your students into professional researchers. It’s about helping them understand that data doesn’t just appear—it’s collected by people making decisions about what to measure and how. Whether students are conducting their own surveys or using existing datasets, they need to understand how data gets from the messy real world into organized, analyzable formats.
11–12 Competencies
Identify (and know you can request access to) non-publicly available datasets by contacting researchers, reading scientific literature, or communicating with public officials.
Develop strategies for finding and accessing datasets that require special permissions, logins, or formal data requests.
Evaluate and navigate licensing and citation requirements when using secondary data sources for research.
Combine multiple secondary datasets to create more comprehensive or useful data for specific investigations.
Classroom resources
Data Science Starter Kit Module 2: Getting Data Ready - Creation and Curation
Welcome to the hands-on world of data collection and organization! This module focuses on where data comes from and how to make it useful for investigation.🔗
Creation and Curation isn’t about turning your students into professional researchers. It’s about helping them understand that data doesn’t just appear—it’s collected by people making decisions about what to measure and how. Whether students are conducting their own surveys or using existing datasets, they need to understand how data gets from the messy real world into organized, analyzable formats.
Advanced Competencies
Classroom resources
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