I’ve been musing over the following question posed on the NAACE / MirandaNet Visual Learning course - Show how can the visualisation of data can be used in one aspect of the FS – KS2 curriculum?

I think my first choice would have to be using the free ‘Create a Scape‘ from Futurelabs in Key Stage 1 Science ‘Living Things in the Environment’. Create a Scape is used to create a ‘media scape‘ for use on either a PC or Handheld device such as a PDA (personal digital assistant) or smart phone. Best used on a handheld device, a ‘media scape’ is essentially an interactive map that delivers multimedia to the user when they go to certain GPS hot spots created by the builder of the media scape. I would create a class media scape that included audio recorded by the children talking about the school grounds, video and digital images that they have collected in the local environment. This could then become a shared resource for the school and other classes could take the interactive tour and report back or add to it themselves, perhaps over different seasons.

Essentially the pupils would be capturing data about the local environment such as weather, types of plants, types of creatures and turning it into an interactive visual record.

Some other ideas..

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 has led to great development in web based applications that can be used for visualising data. My favourite has to be Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/) that while not strictly a wholly web based application (you need to download and install the ‘reader’) it utilises the web. The advantage of Google Earth is that it is free, it is versatile (it can be used across a variety of subjects - see - http://www.google.co.uk/schools/primary.html) Disadvantages of Google Earth are that it can be heavy on broadband demand meaning that a whole class of 30 pupils using it on school’s broadband may find it slow.

Another example I like of using Google’s web 2.0 tools is Tom Barrett’s work using Google Forms to create Emotion Graphs:

http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2008/06/02/creating-an-emotion-graph-using-google-forms/

Finally, something that I think is truly innovative and exciting is how the following sites have used web 2.0 tools to visualise narratives.

While not strictly data, it is interesting to note how they have turned narrative into data - a bit like the lovely example given by Chris Stott ‘We Feel Fine’.

http://www.wetellstories.co.uk/

I particularly like ‘The 21 Steps’ by Chris Cummings a story told through Google Earth and ‘Slice’ by Toby Litt told through a blog. I could see primary pupils doing similar projects in Literacy.