They are everywhere?

 It just doesn't sound right does it?  One of my committee members would be coming out of her chair right now.  In my last post I wrote, "Data-It's Everywhere!"  But the word "data" is plural. And I know it. So I should have written, "Data-They're Everywhere!" Really? Really.  It doesn't sound right. 

I like to think of data as information we use to guide decision making.  Data are not just numbers. (See- plurally it just doesn't sound right! And I don't think plurally is a word either.) Data can be words or pictures or videos. Here's an example.  My husband told my older daughter that chicken nuggets at a specific fast food restaurant are made out of pigeon.  My younger daughter used her iPod to look it up and found that the restaurant [to be unnamed here] uses all white meat chicken in their nuggets.  But she also found that many nuggets contain a meat paste that is made up of all of the undesirable parts of the chicken.  Ok... I gagged a little just thinking about that.  She also found a video that showed what the meat paste looks like before they form it into nuggets, bread and deep fry it.  And that same kind of disgusting gunk is also how they make many hot dogs, bologna, salami and pepperoni.  Now these are some data to use in decision making. (Plural again...sounds funny.)

I considered posting a link to the video here, but if my 8 year old can find it, so can you! :)

In God We Trust

I am currently a "stay at home mom" and doctoral student at Purdue University.  Passionate about education, I have found myself lacking an outlet to SHARE that passion with others.  As I dig into research on collaborative data-driven decision making, my dissertation topic, and interview teachers for my own research, I need a place to collect and reflect.  Welcome to that place!

One of my all time favorite quotes on the topic: In God we trust.  Everyone else, bring data!  Thank you Doug Reeves!