Using Real Data Sets in the Science Classroom

"Research findings indicate that using online data in inquiry-based instruction has many potential benefits including gains in students' content knowledge and increases in student interest, engagement, motivation and sense of control of learning."(p.64 of Technology in the Secondary Classroom)

I have never used authentic online data sets in my teaching, but after reading the text, I am excited at the prospect of incorporating them. The six steps I would follow in doing so are:

1. Refer back to Guiding Principles to make sure activity meets criteria for worthwhile integration.
   
2. Find data sets that are real and relevant to students' lives, information that they would actually care about.
   
3. Pick data set easy enough for students to use without much teacher guidance
4. Help students formulate questions they could answer by analyzing the data.
5. Students analyze data and determine best way to illustrate/ present their findings.
6. Students share findings with their classmates with slides, blog, etc.

Here are some sources of data sets I found (I focused on Biology ones since that is what I teach):

Public Health Data Sets
Betty C. Jung has compiled a HUGE collection of links to all sorts of data sets related to public health. There are hundreds of them organized by topic obtained by the CDC, NIH, WHO and other public health agencies. Some examples of interesting data sets that could be used in a high school Biology classroom:
Alcohol-Attributable Deaths and Years of Potential Life Lost
Trends in HIV- and STD-Related Risk Behaviors Among High School Students (1991--2007)
Injuries Resulting from Car Surfing --- United States, 1990--2008
There are lists, there are tables, there are graphs, some are basic, some are complex, but if you want to incorporate some real-world health stats into your teaching, this is the place to go for them.

Students as Scientists- Pollution Prevention through Education
This Data Visualization Tool allows students to obtain and manipulate real data that has been collected by Cape Fear River Program Scientists over a 5 year period. Data includes water parameters such as temp, pH, DO, salinity and fecal coliform. Simple interface, data sets can be selected from the raw data and displayed as tables or graphs.

WhaleNet
An educational website sponsored by Wheelock College which focuses on marine mammal research. Has satellite tagging information, curriculum resources, research tools and photographs of different species.
Includes data set resources for teachers, like this list of questions that can be used to analyze satellite tagging data in order to get an idea of the animal's behavior and position. Find all archived satellite tagging projects including data sheets, tracking maps and other information for each marine mammal here.

Roadkill Project
This project aims to teach students about the different animals that are found along the road, understand how environmental conditions might play a role in roadkill and as a way for students from different parts of the country to collaborate online. Somewhat morbid, the project will definitely motivate even the most resilient students in the class (eg. with terms like "U.R.P"= unidentified roadside pizza (what you enter when you can't identify the type of animal killed)).
Students can register to participate in collection real data or use past roadkill data for analysis (can be simply exported into an Excel file).
Teachers can use the Roadkill Project to teach ecological principals, statistical analysis and ways to illustrate data. The website provides lesson ideas & activities and has been featured in an EdTechTalk "Making Connections" Webcast, listen to it here.

N.B. Here is a list of resources/ webtools for analyzing and illustrating data that might come in handy for presenting data.