STUDENTS WORKING WITH “BIG” DATA ENGAGES AND EMPOWERS THEM IN THEIR LEARNING: A PROJECT EDDIE DEMONSTRATION

Educating students about climate change is critical in educating our students about this critical societal challenge. Engaging students with the same climate data that scientists use has the potential to address multiple instructional goals including data literacy, science acceptance, and alleviating anxiety about climate change. As part of Project EDDIE, we have developed a climate change teaching module that uses the Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide, GISS Global Temperature, and the Vostok ice core Carbon Dioxide and Temperature Proxies to introduce the fundamental processes that drive climate change, allowing students to explore and explain climate change as a process, and then extend their understanding through the analysis of these data sets. In this presentation we will use the same teaching materials that we use in in-person and asynchronous online settings with the audience. This demonstration will show the audience how going from explanation and demonstration of using data in climate science to guided and then enabled exploration of the underlying data can create open ended investigation by students to strengthen their data analysis and climate science skills. We have used this and other modules at institutions varying from largely teaching focused universities to research focused universities and includes both public and private institutions. We will also discuss the underlying evidence for the improved learning outcomes by students on climate change, statistics, and data analysis. Our use of this module has been received favorably in a variety of classrooms and settings. This project is funded by an NSF IUSE grant (NSF 1821567).