Data Literacy

From the SC READY Science Grade 4 2025 Data Review Report:

Collecting, Communicating, and Analyzing Data and Information 

Students must use data and other information to explain the natural world by identifying patterns, trends, and cause-and-effect relationships. Science provides the opportunity for students to incorporate the skills developed in ELA and mathematics to become critical consumers of information. Science requires empirical data to support arguments and claims, which reinforces students’ ability to become critical consumers of information. 

• Using graphs, tables, and maps students should: 

  •  Identify trends. 

  • Explain relationships among variables. 

  • Summarize the data/information. 

  • Use the data/information as evidence to evaluate whether an argument/claim/prediction is supported or not supported. 

  • Recognize the average of all the trials. (Students are not expected to calculate averages.) 

  • Understand that the variable that is being changed (independent variable) is always on the x-axis, and the variable being measured because of that change (dependent variable) is always on the y-axis. 

• Use terminology that communicates quantity (e.g., greater, less, more, etc.) and check for student understanding. This is especially important when analyzing and communicating data collected during investigations or when making observations. Comparisons of quantitative data communicated numerically with the quantitative terms may help students understand how to communicate data.