Smart Moves: Making Sense of the Math in Environmental Data

Martha Merson, Selene Gonzalez-Carrillo, Ethan Contini-Field, Meredith Small
Science Education and Civic Engagement: An International Journal, Vol 8:2

Summary

Environmental organizers and their constituents, local community group members concerned about environmental health, operate in a context with rich and varied opportunities for learning about and applying mathematics to communicating environmental data. Prior to Statistics for Action, project partners—organizers at environmental non-profits—spent little time with group members analyzing data. Organizations did not have a method or protocol for considering the most effective way to frame findings for neighbors and decision makers. During the Statistics for Action Project, STEM educators and environmental organizers collaborated to use the context of environmental organizing as a platform for science and math learning. This article describes Smart Moves and Memorable Messages, two approaches that advanced goals for both math learning and organizing.