Data Visualization Project Gives Students New Take On Peace and Justice Studies

Data visualization technologies are becoming ubiquitous in many areas of academia today. This past fall, members of the academic technology staff had the opportunity to work on an exciting data visualization project with an introductory course in Peace and Justice Studies.
When professor Paul Joseph approached the AT staff last summer, he expressed an interest in learning more about technologies to support visualization of social science data; he said he saw an increasing demand for these technologies in his research and wondered if they could be applicable to his teaching as well. Working with Professor Joseph and Tisch Library colleague, Martha Kelehan, AT staffers Hannah Reeves and Anoop Kumar helped Joseph restructure a key assignment in his class to build in the use of data visualization technologies.
The assignment had three components. The first, more orthodox, was to encourage students to think, research, and write about a particular set of social relationships relevant to peace and justice, such as between poverty and civil war, or energy use and economic development. The second and third, more unusual, were to create both individual and group based “visualizations” of these relationships, using data visualization and concept mapping software. The ultimate objective was to see whether student understanding of the course material could be enhanced by exposure to different ways of “seeing” the material and working together to understand it.
Students were first required to choose a topic and create a group-based concept map about issues related to the topic in VUE. Working individually, each student then chose a single node of his or her VUE map to research and develop a data visualization in the Gapminder environment. Once students had created their data visualizations, they were asked to write a short research paper on the topic and to embed the paper along with their visualizations into their group’s VUE map.
The culmination of the project was an exhibition held in Carmichael Hall at which students were asked to present their maps and data visualizations and critique those of their peers. Initial feedback from the project suggested that it was a success and that students had been able to engage in deeper and more meaningful ways with concepts related to Peace and Justice studies.
For more details on the Peace and Justice Studies project and links to student maps, see the project wiki.