Food for Thought

The goal of the Food for Thought project is to understand how collaborative learning activities can be used to support the development of data literacy, with a focus on climate change.

The project team developed an app that combined food choice, calories and costs (topics familiar to students) with data about the amount carbon and water that it takes to produce each food item. Students worked collaboratively to create meals, and were prompted to discuss the data describing the environmental impact of their choices.

The research team is examining:

How students collaborate to make sense of multiple sources of data.
The features of the classroom activity and the app that are associated with more complex discussions around the data.
The design features that supported or limited the students’ engagement with the content.

Current work:

Now you can learn more and download the Food for Thought iPad app.
We've just collected data on a comparison study with new design of interface.

Visit the Full Website

foodforthought.illinois.edu

Project Team

Emma Mercier (PI)

Kelly Cole

Lu Lawrence

Susan Kelly

Max Collins

Collaborators

Sharlene Denos

Uni High

Jefferson Middle School

Funding

This project was funded by the Illinios Campus Research Board Arnold O. Beckman award (Award number: RB15253)

Publications & Conferences

Kelly, S. B., Lawrence, L., & Mercier, E. (2017). Engaging everyday science data to help make sense of data. In B. K. Smith, M. Borge, E. Mercier, & K.Y. Lim (Eds.), Making a Difference—Prioritizing Equity and Access in CSCL: The 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning. Philadelphia: The International Society of the Learning Sciences.

Kelly, S. B., Lawrence, L., & Mercier, E. (2017, April). Student collaboration to build joint understanding of data. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Antonio, TX.

Lawrence, L., Kelly, S. B., & Mercier, E. (2017, April). Designing for data literacy with collaboration and multi-touch technology. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Antonio, TX.