How do we prepare our youth for a world of big data?

Abstract

Nancy Butler Songer, Associate Provost of STEM Education at the University of Utah, considers the importance of developing primary and secondary school programs in STEM fields that support students in developing the competencies with big data. We all know something about Big Data. This term describes massive volumes of structured and unstructured data that influence nearly every decision in our lives. A recent report by the United States National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine stated, ‘We live in a world where nearly every interaction—both personal and professional—is mediated through data’. (1) As dedicated scientists and educators, it is our crucial responsibility to develop and evaluate primary and secondary school programs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) that can identify and guide students in developing the competencies with data that students need to navigate the Big Data world of the present and future. But what are these competencies?