Exploration of domains of educational purpose in K-12 data literacy education research

Abstract

Digital data have an increasingly prominent role in various life sectors, ushering in an importance for data literacy education (DLE) in schools. To better understand the versatile educational purposes in this multifaceted topic for students' well-rounded development, this paper presents an in-depth scrutiny into “what DLE is for” in K-12 education. We utilized Gert Biesta's (2009) holistic account of “good education”, which brings together three interconnected domains—becoming equipped with skills (qualification), becoming a part of social orders (socialization), and becoming the subject of one's own life (subjectification)—to examine prior DLE research and explore how such domains of educational purpose have been portrayed in different ways. Our analysis shows that while there is some need for clarifying meanings of the expressed purposes of DLE, there are recognizable educational goals focused on cultivating data savvy students for present and future societal roles, most notably data-centric professions and coping in everyday data environments. Aims of gaining personal value from data and empowering students for critical engagement with data(fication) were also present to complement DLE in terms of its more subjectification-oriented viewpoints. Overall, intriguing meanings, synergies, and cross-pressures can be identified, calling for the recognition of the pluralistic approaches and cultivation of balance in them to holistically educate students to exist in and with the data-rich world. Further investigations and fundamental discussions about educational emphases in DLE research as well as informed engagement in them in local educational decision-making are encouraged.