Consider Becoming a Partnering Teacher
Social studies teachers in New England who are interested in exploring how to work with civic data to support the inquiry arc in social studies can partner with teachers and researchers engaged in the Civic Data Project. Together we will explore:
- What data literacy concepts are important to develop as a social studies scholar?
- How do skills developed through social studies inquiry—like sourcing, contextualizing, and corroborating, support responsible engagement with data?
- How can exploration of civic data be integrated with existing social studies curricula to foster data agency, develop critical data literacy, and inspire civic engagement?
Join Our Professional Learning Community
Social studies teachers from New England are invited to apply to participate in this project (using the button above). You will be supported in the following ways:
- Paid stipend of $1000 to participate in the week-long Civic Data Summer Workshop in 2025. During the workshop, you will engage with data as a learner using free tools and resources (including CODAP) and reflect on potential applications fitting your own classroom context. The workshop culminates with the collaborative design of a data inquiry activity tailored to your curriculum to bring back to your classroom.
- Free access to civic data addressing social issues and curated to support inquiry, uploaded into CODAP for easy (click, drag, drop) creation of graphs and maps.
- Coaching and development of materials to support classroom implementation of activities developed during the summer workshop.
- Non-evaluative observation, interview, and survey findings describing how your students engage with civic data and key aspects of their developing data literacy.
Throughout the following academic year (2025-2026), the research team gathers data to inform continued development of materials. This includes copies of student work, student surveys (informal formative assessment scored by the project team using a rubric), interviews with students (voluntary, outside school hours, and paid), and videotaped classroom data discussions. All data gathering activities will be conducted in accordance with school policy, with school permission, with full internal review of methods and privacy safeguards, as well as informed consent.
Free Resources for Educators
Teachers and researchers are collaboratively developing resources and activities to support data inquiry in social studies classrooms. Once these are ready, they will be available and free to educators!
Sign up to be notified when these resources are available!