SectionBuilding Data Curiosity and Questioning Skills
Data science begins with curiosity—wondering about the world and asking questions that can be explored through information. But not all questions are “data questions.” Let’s explore what makes a good question for data investigation and how to help students develop this skill.
While you could survey people about color preferences, there’s no objective “best” color to discover through data. Good data questions are specific, measurable, and can be answered by collecting information. A better version might be “What colors do students in our class prefer for their bedroom walls?” This transforms opinion into investigable preferences within a specific population.
Secondary (6-12) Starters: “What factors influence...”, “How has [topic] changed over time...”, “What’s the relationship between...”, “Do students who [X] also tend to [Y]...”
Example in action: During a lesson on weather (Science), a student uses “I wonder how many...” to ask “I wonder how many rainy days we have each month?” Perfect! Now you have a data investigation opportunity.
Choose a lesson you’re planning this week. Write down two question starters that would fit naturally into that lesson and help students generate data questions.
One of the most powerful routines for developing data curiosity is “Notice and Wonder.” This simple strategy works with any content and naturally leads students toward data thinking.
The Strategy: Whenever you present any information to students (a graph, a historical fact, a scientific observation), pause and ask: “What do you notice?” and “What do you wonder?”
Example with a simple bar graph showing class pet preferences: Students might notice: “Dogs got twice as many votes as cats” or “Nobody chose fish.” Students might wonder: “Would this be the same in other classes?” or “Do kids who have pets vote differently than kids who don’t?”
The magic: This simple routine develops the habit of looking beyond surface information to ask deeper questions. It works in any subject with any type of information.
Look at this student response: “I wonder if lunch preferences change during different seasons.” Is this a “notice” (observation) or a “wonder” (question for investigation)?
This is definitely a “wonder” because it poses a question that students could investigate by collecting data across different seasons. “Notices” would be observations like “Pizza got the most votes” or “There are more boys than girls in this data.” “Wonders” are the questions that emerge from those observations and lead to new investigations.
