Data Education in Schools (DES) takes a socially responsible and consultative partnership approach with children and teachers to understand their concerns and hopes about how new technologies will impact their lives. We investigate how critical concerns about technology in education are considered by school-aged learners and their educators. The ethos of the DES programme (and related projects) is to uphold children’s right to be consulted about issues which impact them in the digital realm. We believe that to meaningfully participate in such discussions, children also have a right to education about emerging technologies, which is why we focus on developing data literacy and AI literacy in schools. We develop educational resources and support teachers with professional learning on these topics.
‘Data Education in Schools’ is a UK and Scottish Government funded project to teach data literacy and data citizenship skills to learners ages 3-18 years old in the Edinburgh and surrounding area. It is an eight year project that aims to reach all learners within the six local authorities of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal. Data Education in Schools is part of the wider Data Skills Gateway which supports the improvement of data and digital skills for all.
The first point of contact for this area of work is:
Professor Judy Robertson, Co-Director for Data Education in Schools judy.robertson@ed.ac.uk
Jo Spiller (Strategic Programme Director) jo.spliller@ed.ac.uk