The Data Routine: a four-element structure for student engagement with data in science investigations¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The Data Routine (Penuel et al., 2023) "identifies four elements that help teachers structure their students' engagement with data in a science investigation": Framing Questions, Orienting to the Data, Exploring the Data, and Sensemaking about the Data. Each element describes ways for students to reason with data mathematically, and example prompts map onto GC and CoV trajectory levels. In this study it served as a lens for teachers to explore teacher guides and inform lesson adaptation, and as a coding framework for classroom observations.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Teacher facilitation across all four elements for full enactment; the report observed all four elements in only 24% of lessons

Constraints¶

• Sensemaking about the Data was least commonly enacted, often due to limited instructional time after procedurally complex investigations

Target Learners¶

• middle school science students

Target Learning Goals¶

• reasoning with data
• graph comprehension
• covariational reasoning
• scientific sensemaking

Affordances¶

• Gc Cov Learning Trajectories Science

Claims¶

• Teachers varied in Data Routine enactment, with Sensemaking about the Data least common, and sensemaking activities were strongly associated with open-ended questioning [+W]
• Teachers addressed graph comprehension consistently at high levels across observed lessons, while covariational reasoning enactment varied widely by lesson [+W]

Related Elements¶

• Inquiry

Examples¶

• Four recommendations for deepening mathematics integration in science investigations

Key Sources¶

• McElhaney, K. W., Hodkowski, N. M., McMahon, L. H., Jacobs, J., Penuel, W. R., Anton, G., Henson, K., Urban, R., & Parker, D. A. (2025). Promoting Mathematical Reasoning in OpenSciEd Middle School Curriculum Units. Digital Promise. https://digitalpromise.dspacedirect.org/items/4ea4b3c5-c663-4484-8727-258bff346d2d. doi:10.51388/20.500.12265/281