Data Nuggets

Bringing authentic research and data into K-16 classrooms

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  • Featured Data Nugget: Grasshopper mice feed on two different species of scorpions - one with a painful sting and one that is painless. Will the mice choose to avoid the scorpions with the painful sting?
  • Photo by Tomomi Suwa, 2013
    Featured Data Nugget: When is a mutualism not a mutualism? Under certain environmental conditions, such as soils with high nitrogen, Rhizobia may become parasites to plants.
  • Cover_picture_Larson_2014
    Featured Data Nugget: Climate change is causing waters to warm, and species will need to adapt to survive. Do salmon have the genes necessary to survive in these new conditions?
  • diverse LTER prairie
    Featured Data Nugget: Corn is used to produce most of the biofuels that humans consume today, but it does not make a good habitat for wildlife. Can diverse prairies serve as a viable alternative?
  • reef pic
    Featured Data Nugget: The world's coral reefs are home to a large diversity of plants and animals, and are threatened by climate change. When the water gets too warm, some corals bleach and some can survive.
  • treeRing4
    Featured Data Nugget: What can tree rings tell us about the past climate of Australia, and whether current weather patterns are changing due to climate change?
  • blackthroatedbluewarbler2
    Featured Data Nugget: The Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest is home to the one of the longest running bird studies ever conducted! What can we learn about migratory bird populations from this unique long-term dataset?
  • redpostmanbutterfly
    Featured Data Nugget: Big wings allow butterflies to fly everywhere with ease. But you may wonder, why are the wings of some species so brightly colored?
  • white tailed deer fawn
    Featured Data Nugget: Today more and more people are moving from rural to urban areas. This means that cities are becoming the primary places where many people experience nature and interact with wildlife.
  • humpback_whale_Palmer
    Featured Data Nugget: People have hunted whales for over 5,000 years for their meat, oil, and blubber. Today, as populations are struggling to recover, they are faced with additional challenges due to climate change.
  • Anole lizard
    Featured Data Nugget: Male and female anole lizards are very different from one another. Natural selection from predators may drive these differences.
  • MackCreek
    Featured Data Nugget: Floods are common events in streams with potentially beneficial and harmful effects on fish populations, like the cutthroat trout.
  • AnolisScriptus
    Featured Data Nugget: Extreme climate events, like hurricanes, are becoming more frequent and severe. When a hurricane hit the Caribbean, scientists seized the opportunity to observe natural selection by hurricanes.
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DATA NUGGETS WERE FOUNDED In 2011 BY MSU Scientists and TEachers in the GK-12 PARTNERSHIP. THEY ARE CURRENTLY FUNDED BY A DRK-12 GRANT FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION.

Data Nuggets are free classroom activities, co-designed by scientists and teachers, designed to bring contemporary research and authentic data into the classroom. Data Nuggets include a connection to the scientist behind the data and the true story of their research. Each activity gives students practice working with “messy data” and interpreting quantitative information. Students are guided through the entire process of science, including identifying hypotheses and predictions, visualizing and interpreting data, making evidence based claims, and asking their own questions for future research. Because of their simplicity and flexibility, Data Nuggets can be used throughout the school year and across grades K-16, as students grow in their quantitative abilities and gain confidence. Data Nuggets have the potential to improve the understanding of science in society while engaging and motivating the next generation of scientists and engineers.

Recent News & Events

Melissa and Liz presenting Data Nuggets.

Data Nuggets researchers lead collaborative study examining representation in STEM curriculum

Teacher Feature – Karen Murphy

NABT 2019 – BEACON Evolution Symposium

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Contact Us

Please email Liz (eschultheis@gmail.com) or Melissa (kjelvikm@gmail.com) if you have any questions or feedback on Data Nuggets. We are constantly working to improve our resources, and we welcome all information on how they performed in your classroom with your students! We are continually developing and releasing new Data Nuggets. If you would like to create your own, include Data Nuggets as a broader impact in an upcoming grant, or are using Data Nuggets in your classroom for the first time, let us know and we can help get you started!

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Data Nuggets by theme

adaptation agriculture algae animals behavior biodiversity biofuels birds carbon chemistry climate change competition coral reef disturbance ecology Enemy Release Hypothesis environmental evolution fertilization fish genes greenhouse gasses herbivory insects invasive species marine mating mutualism nitrogen nutrients parasitism phosphorus photosynthesis physics plants predation restoration rhizobia soil substrate temperature tradeoff urban water wetland

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