Data Nuggets researchers lead collaborative study examining representation in STEM curriculum

Melissa and Liz presenting Data Nuggets.
Melissa (left) and Liz (right) presenting Data Nuggets at the LTER All Scientists Meeting.

When you were a child, what was your image of a scientist? Could you imagine yourself in those shoes?

A new, National Science Foundation-funded study led by Michigan State University researchers and others aims to better understand how science instruction that contains diverse scientist role models affects student attitudes about science, technology, engineering and mathematics—STEM—courses and careers. 

Data Nuggets, a project that has created free STEM classroom activities since 2011, is integral to the new study. Data Nuggets was founded by postdoctoral researchers Elizabeth Schultheis and Melissa Kjelvik, both of whom conducted doctoral research at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station. The Data Nuggets activities were co-developed through collaborations between scientists and K-16 educators.

MSU ecologist Marjorie Weber will lead the study. Other members of the research team include Schultheis and Kjelvik, and Cissy Ballen and Ash Zemenick of Auburn University.

Post originally from Kellogg Biological Station. You can also read about the study here.

Teacher Feature – Karen Murphy

Our first Teacher Feature is by Karen Murphy, who recently used one of our new Data Nuggets by the Harvard Forest LTER with her ecology students. Karen a high school science and special education teacher at Summit Academy, a public day school in Amherst, Massachusetts. 


I was able to use A window into a tree’s world Data Nugget with my ecology class as part of a unit on the carbon cycle. I found that students were interested in the relationship between tree rings and temperature/climate. They appreciated the idea of being able to determine past climate and tree age using tree rings. I asked one student for specific feedback and she said that the assignment was “interactive, informative, and fun.”

This Data Nugget provided students with access to a current, real example of the scientific method in action. For example, the class was able to practice identifying the independent and dependent variables, graph and analyze data, and to build on this knowledge to creatively form their own questions for further research. 

I greatly appreciate the Teacher Guide and PowerPoint that were found on the web page. There is a lot of valuable information to share with the class, including instructional material on the science of climate change and sources of evidence. I now hope to incorporate more Data Nuggets into future classes.

NABT 2019 – BEACON Evolution Symposium

In this workshop, we will share strategies for using Data Nuggets in the classroom and introduce one that features microsatellite data for various populations of striped bass. This Data Nugget will give students an opportunity to explore genetic markers and how they can be used to inform the management of an important sport fishery by deciphering which spawning grounds the fish were born in.

The materials from the Data Nugget workshop are as follows:

Workshop organized and presented by: Megan Phifer-Rixey, Chelsea Barreto, Carleigh Engstrom, Elizabeth SchultheisMelissa Kjelvik, and Louise Mead. For more information on the NABT 2019 conference, check out their website, here.

BEACON CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF EVOLUTION IN ACTION, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS, & MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY

Digital Data Nuggets on DataClassroom!

We are so excited to announce that we have partnered with our friends at DataClassroom to create new “Digital Data Nuggets“! These activities allow your students to easily make beautiful graphs, develop their data literacy abilities, do statistics, and play with data visuals for free in the DataClassroom tool. Although DataClassroom.com offers some paid features, Digital Data Nuggets will always be available with their free version. Once you are logged in to DataClassroom, look for the Data Nuggets “DN” logo in the list of datasets.

Click here to register a free password at DataClassoom.

Click here for a quick tutorial on making graphs with DataClassroom.

DataClassroom was created by our good friend, Aaron Reedy, a former high school teacher and evolutionary biologist. He developed them as the digital data-tool that he always wished he had when he was teaching in his Chicago Public School classroom. In addition to exploring the Data Nugget datasets, DataClassroom lets students upload their own data, easily create graphs, and even conduct animated chi-square or t-tests when they are ready to move up to null hypothesis testing. Aaron is willing to demo the full DataClassroom tool for any interested teacher or school. You can directly send questions, feedback, or a request for a demo to Aaron at aaron@dataclassroom.com.

Leave a comment below to let us know what you think about Digital Data Nuggets!

Presenting at the KBS K-12 Partnership Spring Workshop

It was standing room only as Marcia Angle and Liz Schultheis presented Data Nuggets at the Kellogg Biological Station K-12 Partnership Spring Workshop. The theme of the workshop was “Data, Data, Everywhere!” so it was a great fit!

We designed this session for Data Nugget “newbies” and gave a quick background on our activities, paired with a tour through the website. We then went through one of our newest Data Nuggets, “Bringing back the Trumpeter Swan” and all the cool potential extensions that can be done with this activity.

For all the materials presented in the session, check out the links below!

NABT 2018 – BEACON Evolution Symposium

Want to learn more about cutting-edge evolution research? Looking for a way to bring more data into your classroom? If so, come check out the Evolution Symposium: Emerging Research in Evolutionary Biology at this year’s National Association of Biology Teachers Conference! This year’s symposium will begin with a talk by Dr. Caroline Williams, an evolutionary biologist from the University of California, Berkeley, whose lab studies the question, how do variable environments drive the evolution of metabolic physiology in ectotherms? Climate change research historically focused on summer, and winter climate change was considered mostly beneficial due to amelioration of damaging cold. Her research is shifting this paradigm, and illustrating how variation in winter conditions drive responses of terrestrial organisms to climate change. The talk will be followed by a hands-on workshop, led by Nikki Chambers; Dr. Elizabeth Schultheis; and Dr. Melissa Kjelvik, where participants will go through a Data Nugget activity that can be used to help bring this data back to their classrooms.

The materials from the Data Nugget workshop are as follows:

Workshop organized and presented by: Caroline Williams, Nikki Chambers, Elizabeth Schultheis, Melissa Kjelvik, and Louise Mead. For more information on the NABT 2018 conference, check out their website, here.

BEACON CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF EVOLUTION IN ACTION, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS, & UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

Data Nuggets on social media!

If you’re not following Data Nuggets on social media yet, you should! We have four great ways to keep up to date about the newest Data Nuggets released and when we add new features:

First, follow us on Twitter @Data_Nuggets. We post new Data Nuggets, cool articles, and supplemental materials that can be used to dive deeper into the research in our activities.

Next, like our page on Facebook and join the new Data Nuggets group. We created this group as a space for teachers, professors, and all educators to discuss Data Nuggets and their experiences using them. Have a new innovative way that you modified a lesson and made it your own? Need suggestions for activities that can be used to teach a particular math or science concept?

Finally, you can follow our new Instagram account Data_Nuggets where we share cool images that come in from scientists when they create their Data Nuggets and photos from our conferences and workshops. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where we share scientists’ videos. These are two great places to search for inspiration, or to use to connect more with the people behind the data.

Thanks! Melissa and Liz

Finding the Data Nugget You Need by Math and Science Content

Not sure which Data Nugget to use next? With over 60 activities to choose from, sometimes it’s difficult to find time to read though all the descriptions and pick one that will fit your needs. From your feedback we’ve learned that you’d like to search by key science and math content within each activity. In response we created a searchable table on our website (under the “Current Data Nuggets” tab on our homepage) that will hopefully help you find the Data Nuggets that best suit your needs!

This table allows you to pick from the 60+ activities we’ve co-developed with scientists and search by the following criteria:

  • Content readability level (Flesch-Kincaid reading grade)
  • Science concepts / keywords
  • Quantitative concepts / statistics
  • Type of graph used in the activity
  • Type of variable (categorical, continuous)
  • Type of data source (raw, summarized), including a note when the full large data set is available when requested

In addition to this table, we have a few other ways you can search for Data Nuggets on our website. Other criteria you can search for include: activity summary and study location (“View in searchable table”), study area (“View on map”), and by scientist (“Meet the scientists!”). Our next step will be to include links to the key NGSS core ideas and scientific and engineering practices, so be on the lookout for that in the near future!

Written by May Lee, Data Nugget Researcher

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Living Laboratories: Using islands to track natural selection in wild lizards

This post is by MSU postdocs Melissa Kjelvik and Liz Schultheis, and BEACON education director Louise Mead. See the original article on the BEACON website (reproduced below):

Aaron with a baby anole lizard.

The National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) annual Professional Development Conference provides biology educators from across the nation the opportunity to join other leaders in biology and life science education for four days of renowned speakers, hands-on workshops, informative sessions, and special events. In November 2017 the BEACON Center partnered with the American Society of Naturalists to sponsor a special symposium highlighting cutting edge evolutionary research and introducing attendees to a new study system, research questions, and related resources they could incorporate into their classrooms.

This year’s Evolution Symposium: Emerging Research in Evolutionary Biology at NABT featured a research talk by Dr. Robert Cox (Bob) on selection and fitness in anole lizards, followed by a Data Nugget activity highlighting data from his research. Bob, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Virginia, studies these charismatic lizards, native to Cuba and the Bahamas. He describes anoles as “ecological popcorn” because they are so abundant and are eaten by many organisms. In Florida, where the anoles are invasive, you can shake a bush and 10 will fall out! Bob shared an amazing talk describing his lab’s research on brown anoles and the challenges and opportunities of studying natural selection in the wild. Bob uses real-time studies of wild animal populations to understand the ecological basis of natural selection as it happens. He chose to work with anoles because they are ideal organisms for studies of natural selection; they are abundant, easy to catch, and have short lifespans.

When Charles Darwin talked about the “struggle for existence” he was making the observation that many individuals in the wild don’t survive long enough to reach adulthood. Many die before they have the chance to reproduce and pass on their genes to the next generation. Darwin also noted that in every species there is variation in physical traits such as size, color, and shape. Is it simply that those who survive to reproduce are lucky, or do these traits affect which individuals have a greater or lesser chance of surviving? While evolutionary biology is often viewed as a historical science, exploring processes that have played out over millions of years, Bob stressed that natural selection, the primary force of adaptive evolution, is happening all the time and can be measured in natural populations! Along with field studies, Bob and his lab use genetic methods to help them track the reproductive success of thousands of individuals across multiple generations. Experimental manipulations of predators and competitors also help in understanding the ecological basis of natural selection.

An anole lizard on the island, about to be captured by Aaron.

The talk was followed by a hands-on workshop, led by Aaron Reedy, Elizabeth Schultheis, and Melissa Kjelvik, where participants worked together as students on two Data Nugget activities. This open time gives teachers the opportunity to have discussions about connections to educational standards or pedagogical strategies that are helpful for them to translate the research and associated data back to their classroom settings. Data Nuggets (http://datanuggets.org) are free classroom activities, designed to improve the scientific and quantitative abilities of K-16 students by providing them with authentic data collected by practicing scientists. The research in Data Nuggets on the anole lizards focused on two traits – their size, and their dewlaps. The Data Nuggets take students through the process of exploring two different hypotheses.  In Part I students calculate and graph %survival of lizards according to their size at the beginning of the season, to explore the hypothesis that size influences survival and overall fitness.  In Part II, students graph % survival as a function of dewlap size. The dewlap is an extendable red and yellow flap of skin on their throat. To communicate with other brown anoles, they extend their dewlap and move their head and body. Males have particularly large dewlaps, which they often display in territorial defense against other males and during courtship with females. Females have much smaller dewlaps and use them less often. This trait comes with a trade off – while it attracts the desired attention of females, it also attracts predators. There could be sexual selection favoring this trait, while natural selection works against it.

In these and other Data Nugget activities, students read background information on a study system and scientist, graph and interpret authentic data from their research, and use their graphs to construct explanations based on sound reasoning and evidence. By relying on authentic research and data, Data Nuggets’ innovative approach reveals to students how the process of science really works, while building their quantitative abilities and interest in science. One teacher from the workshop shared that, “the beauty of the activity is in the simplicity,” which is a great testament to Bob and Aaron’s ability to take complex evolution research and distill it down to a core message. The Data Nuggets include the story behind Aaron and Bob’s research to further engage students in the journey taken by the scientist as they formulated their research questions and ideas.

For more information, and to check out the talk slides and Data Nuggets, check out this page. To learn more about Bob and the research in his lab, check out his webpage, and to learn more about Aaron’s research and outreach, check out his website.

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NABT 2017 – BEACON Evolution Symposium

For more information on the NABT 2017 conference, check out their website, here.

For more information on the 2017 Evolution Symposium, check out our blog post here.

Want to learn more about cutting-edge evolution research? Looking for a way to bring more data into your classroom? If so, come check out the Evolution Symposium: Emerging Research in Evolutionary Biology at this year’s NABT Conference! This year’s symposium will begin with a talk by Dr. Robert Cox, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Virginia, whose lab studies these charismatic lizards, native to Cuba and the Bahamas. While evolution is often viewed in a historical sense, playing out over millions of years, Robert’s research focuses on evolution in action that can be observed today. The talk will be followed by a hands-on workshop, led by Aaron Reedy; Dr. Elizabeth Schultheis; and Dr. Melissa Kjelvik, where participants will go through a Data Nugget activity that can be used to help bring this data back to their classrooms.

The materials from the Data Nugget workshop are as follows:

Workshop organized and presented by: Robert Cox, Aaron ReedyElizabeth Schultheis, Melissa Kjelvik, and Louise Mead

BEACON CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF EVOLUTION IN ACTION, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS, & UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

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