Sold a Story...

I do not believe I have ever asked my students to tell a story with data.  I have more frequently asked students to use data to support an argument and I do think this aids in student understanding.

I used the MAPS of WWI to look at the story of the war. If was my first attempt at it and need to tweak the process a lot but they thought looking at the various maps was pretty cool. I know now what to change for next time, but the general analysis of the maps and data was useful.

I used the MAPS of WWI to look at the story of the war. If was my first attempt at it and need to tweak the process a lot but they thought looking at the various maps was pretty cool. I know now what to change for next time, but the general analysis of the maps and data was useful.

Same, especially in my AP Psych class where there is an emphasis on science practices. I think *I've* told a story with data (such as the impact of the industrial revolution on urbanization, GDP, migration), but not asked the students to do so explicitly. 

Same. I have never thought about telling a story with data. I have done it with primary sources at the start of the year. Giving them little context and telling them to use their observations to tell me what they think the sources are talking about and then writing that out. Afterward, we break down what they thought about the sources and then give them the context to talk about the difficulty of understanding ancient history. 

I have never asked students to write a story about a data set, but I really like this idea as a warm-up to increase student engagement. I would include a graph, or other data representation, and ask students to write a few sentences about what they think happened that caused the data set without using outside resources, for example, suprising casualty rates in the second world war or in the post-war era. Some precocious students may know already, but I will tell them not to reveal what they know to the class. This will encourage students to read the chart title, and x and y axis title, which I find they do not always do for context clues. At the end, I would reveal what actually happened. Students will be interested to see how close their story was to the real events.

I guess if we consider maps data, I have my students complete annotated maps. An example, would I have my students map the early western river valleys (Mesopotamia and Egypt), use resources provided and then students have to look at their completed map and tell me where and with who would these river valleys trade with. I think this helps them place more context in their response as they can visually reference the places and civilizations they are talking about. I am excited to try a more direct approach to "tell a story" where students make use of specific data maybe more numbers to"tell a story" rather than simply using it as an evidence reference.