As a preschool teacher, data analysis is primarily seen through the lens of classroom management and structure. Programs such as Microsoft Excel are helpful in organizing a variety of student data. It is also helpful in measuring growth in various academic, social, physical, and behavioral skills as they work towards specific benchmarks. Using this program allows me to record the progress of each child throughout the school year. I can look at trends among students and modify our classroom to work within the data we see.
For preschoolers, they are just developing the foundations of computational thinking skills. What a great opportunity to begin introducing their minds to the ideas of organization and categorization. “Charting, graphing, and visualization tools” (Roblyer, 2018, p. 131) are great opportunities for young students to engage with their world. For preschoolers, this could mean exploring various visual displays of information. One week, we could make a linear chart of those who like apples and those who prefer bananas. Another day, we could make a graph of everyone’s favorite colors. While data collection seems like a complex skill, the foundations of it can be built in these early years. This sets the students up for success as they seek to become creative communicators (ISTE, 2022).
Resources
Roblyer, M., & Hughes, J. (2018). Integrating educational technology into teaching (8th ed.).
Pearson Education.
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2022). ISTE Standards: Students.
ISTE. https://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards-for-students
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