Project Profile

POSE: Phase I:

Data fluency is a critical 21st century skill. To learn the foundations of data science, students must engage in rich data exploration of robust datasets beginning from the early grades onward. Recognizing this pivotal role of data science in modern education and its potential to equip students with critical analytical skills, this initiative seeks to solidify and extend the reach of the Common Online Data Analysis Platform (CODAP)—a tool already embraced by educators worldwide for its user-friendly, visual interface tailored to K-12 learners. The project’s primary goal is to begin the process of establishing a sustainable open-source ecosystem to ensure that CODAP remains a free, robust resource for exploring data. By doing so, it aims to address the technological needs of K-12 education, facilitating access to a quality data science tool specifically designed for the classroom.

The Open Data Exploration Tools for K-12 Education project will enhance data science education in K-12 schools through the development of an open-source ecosystem supporting the sustainability and expansion of CODAP. The project aims to: (1) identify, scope, and engage CODAP’s current and potential user community, including direct code contributors, plugin developers, integrators, and end-user contributors, such as educators, curriculum developers, and translators to clarify their capabilities and needs; (2) explore CODAP’s potential for establishing new user communities within unexpected or currently undiscovered domains, including education administrators, science or citizen science communities, industry/small business users, or other informal data exploration users; (3) identify and smoke-test a distributed development infrastructure for supporting different communities including CODAP plugin developers, dataset contributors, and content developers including refining existing infrastructure and practices for distributed code development; (4) identify appropriate organizational, governance, and coordination models suited for supporting a robust, sustainable CODAP ecosystem that accommodates representation of goals from users across the ecosystem and ensures ongoing quality control, privacy, and security; and (5) explore avenues for ensuring a sustainable ecosystem for CODAP, including commercial opportunities such as professional development services, potential foundation support, or partnerships with educational technology or industry supporters.

This project is co-funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.