TUVA Labs

 

As math teachers, we are always looking for data we can use in our classrooms that is authentic and interesting.  It has to be interesting to capture student attention and buy in.  This is where TUVA Labs come in.  The offer three types of information to use in the classroom for everything from bellringers/warmup to activities, to data stories.  Each one can be used for a specific purpose.

The material can be in data stories which allow students to generate their own questions, evaluate data found in different forms such as charts, tables, or graphs, or look for patterns and make observations.  Data stories are great for warm-ups, conversation starters, or an introductory activities.  These are short 10 to 20 minute activities.

They provide data sets complete with associated activities that are real-world, content rich, data sets obtained from sources such as NASA, the Census Bureau, NOAA, the CDC, and so many others.  The activities require that students analyze the data, and can be used as part of a classroom lesson. These are longer, taking from 20 minutes to a full class period. The final type is the task which has students applying what they've learned and can be used to challenge students or extend concepts.

They offer students the opportunity to create a dot plots, scatter plots, bar charts, histograms, and box plots, or construct their own mathematical models, while making predictions and interpreting data. In addition, they can look for patterns and apply mathematical or statistical concepts to situations that are real and authentic. They've got materials rated for grades 3 to 12.

Although, Tuvalabs offer both a free version and a paid version, the free version only allows you to access 10 free lessons, upload 5 data sets and set up basic student accounts.  The free lessons cover things such as dinosaurs, Atlantic hurricanes, devastating earthquakes,  the population of the Lynx and Snowshoe hares in Canada for science.  For math, there are lessons on comparing the profits between Pixar and Dreamworks, determining who is at the highest risk of getting measles, relationship between diameter and mass of M&M's and several others.

Each lesson can be accessed through google and each has an activity preview. The preview discusses learning goals while explaining the lesson step by step. In addition, you can look at all the case cards, see how many activities have been created, and how many students have used them. Now if your school lets you invest in the paid version, you end up getting access to every lesson, activity, data set, etc, all 267 of them.  There are unlimited uploads, premium student accounts, integration with google classroom and other LMS and other advantages.

The company does provide tutorials designed to help students learn how to do a variety of topics from how to do certain charts, to filtering data, to random sampling, and so many others.  Now I will say, this is something I would be more likely to do during an actual face to face class because I'd want to be there to monitor and answer questions rather than trying to run it virtually.  Next, I would strongly recommend you test drive this by signing up for the 10 free lessons to see if it would work well for your lessons.  let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.