Polar Science Data Jam: Building Data Literacy through Creative Engagement with Scientific Data

The Polar Literacy (PL) project is creating replicable ways of bringing polar science education to informal learning environments, extending our understanding of how polar education initiatives can be delivered to youth, and designing a professional development model to improve the capacity for Polar Region researchers to craft meaningful broader impacts of their work. Using the Polar Literacy Principles (McDonnell et al 2020) as a foundation, we are developing a replicable Out of School Time (OST) program that advance informal STEM learning that can be shared and sustained within the broader education community. Our focus has been on creating programs and resources that incorporate these four key pillars including: Creating opportunities for youth to experience, grapple with, and come to a clearer understanding of Polar Literacy Principle (PLP) concepts. Providing opportunities for youth to learn more about polar scientists, their personal stories, and the research they do through face-to-face, video and/or written resources. Allowing youth to engage in place-based activities that encourage youth to connect what they understand about local phenomena to similar phenomena in the Polar Regions. Encouraging youth to engage in data-rich opportunities to grapple with real-world data sets and to engage in one or more creative Data Jam activities, originally developed by the Asombro Institute. In this poster, we will discuss the challenges and lessons learned from virtual implementations of our Polar Icy Adventure OST program. We will describe how we engaged middle school age youth in a Data Jam, where youth analyze polar data on penguin populations at Palmer Station in Antarctica and express their understanding through a creative project such as a poem, dance, artwork, or creative writing piece.