12. What is visual-numeric literacy, and how does it work?

Abstract

This article explores the concept of literacy related to the use of data visualizations. Literacy is here understood as the ability to make sense from semiotic resources in an educational context. Theoretically the discussion is based in social semiotic theory on multimodality in the tradition of New Literacy Studies. Empirical examples are taken from observations in two Social Science classrooms in upper secondary school in Norway, where the students work with publicly available data visualizations to answer tasks designed by their teacher. The discussion sums up factors that affect reading and learning from such complex resources: taking time to explore axis system, variables, and digitally available options; questioning data; and contextualizing results. task of Our reveal a need to find teachable moments in school literacy practices. One when the were to change the axis variables. Those who had the