Fostering Data Literacy Through the Delta i Data! Game Package: Teacher Insights

Abstract

As digital technologies and data-driven systems are integrated into our daily social, study, and work life, fostering critical awareness of data collection becomes increasingly essential. K-12 teachers play a key role in building students’ data literacy through engaging and inclusive activities. Analogue games have proved valuable for active learning and group interaction. Seeking insight into how analogue game-based learning can support teachers in fostering students’ data literacy, this paper presents a case study examining how 20 upper-secondary teachers experienced using the Delta i Data! Game Package. Containing two analogue data literacy learning games and additional teaching resources, the game package was developed as part of a University-County Council collaboration and distributed to 42 upper-secondary schools in Norway at the beginning of the 2024 school year. An online qualitative survey conducted two months later investigated how upper-secondary teachers implemented the games in their classroom practices. Thematic analysis revealed four key findings: First, the teachers’ use of the games differed. Second, the games contributed to student engagement and social interaction. Third, the games fostered data awareness by providing a good starting point for discussions on privacy concerns, data trails, and the role of digital data in everyday practices. Fourth, some teachers found it challenging to facilitate digital data reflections, while others chose to use the games solely for relationship building and did not address data literacy with their students.