Children (also) leave data everywhere

Data Literacy Designathon

In collaboration with our partner Designathon Works, we have developed the Data Literacy Designathon for children aged 9 to 12. The Data Literacy Designathon is a three-part program, with each part lasting 1.5 hours, aimed at making children data-literate. They will learn what data is, the opportunities and risks associated with it, and how they can have more control over their data.

They learn this in a unique way, through a designathon: after our introduction to the theme of data, children brainstorm, sketch, build, and present their own solutions to make the Netherlands data-literate. A designathon is an open-ended challenge where children are free to come up with their own solution. As a result, children work on the same task in their own way and at their own level. This format is well-suited for the theme of data literacy because the ultimate goal is to empower children to make conscious choices about how they handle data. Our data specialists provide the lessons.

The Data Literacy Designathon consists of three lessons. In the first lesson, we begin with a theme presentation that encourages children to think about data, discuss the opportunities and risks, and learn how to have more control over their data. Then, we introduce three challenges for which children will come up with solutions: data as currency, data causing misunderstandings, and data influencing choices.

In the second lesson, children start working on their solutions. Using the "Ideate" worksheet, they explore the challenges in groups, generate ideas, and consider the impact their solution will have and on whom. They examine the challenges from their own perspective and as a group, they choose a solution to pursue. They then sketch their idea or invention and describe what the idea is and how it works. During the Data Literacy Designathon, children also learn to collect data themselves. They create a questionnaire with their group about the theme of data and their idea, and they administer it to their parents/guardians between the second and third lesson.

In the third lesson, children build a 3D prototype of their idea, which helps them develop the idea in detail. Finally, they present these prototypes to the class.

Sponsor a Class Data literacy is not equally accessible to everyone. There are already significant differences in digital skills among children, and a key factor contributing to these disparities is family income. For 10 to 12-year-olds, the level of parental assistance in installing and using digital media has a positive effect on digital skills. However, even in this aspect, inequality of opportunity plays a role: the higher the parents' level of education, the more likely they are to assist their children.

We want to prevent digitalization from reinforcing inequality of opportunity. Our educational program for children in Year 7 and 8 helps them learn to harness the opportunities provided by data and become resilient against its risks. We offer our program for €900 excluding VAT.

This amount covers only our costs, as the Datahub is a non-profit organization. Not every school can afford this amount; smaller schools generally have less budget and therefore may not be able to purchase the program. We strive to accommodate these schools as much as possible, and we greatly appreciate your support in achieving this goal! With a contribution of €900, we can implement the three-part educational program in one class.

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