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Are you frustrated with the misinformation you see daily in the media? Looking for new ways to engage students in applying scientific reasoning to everyday issues? Hoping to integrate media literacy into your curriculum, but not sure where to begin? NCSE is excited to share our new DataWISE tool that combines science practices and media literacy skills into a coherent framework for critically analyzing data-based claims. 

WISE represents four key aspects of data literacy — three questions and one action — that should be considered when we encounter a claim that requires scientific information to support it:

W - Is this worthy of attention?

I - Inspect the data.

S - Does this make sense?

E - What emotion is activated?

We like that the acronym spells wise, which reminds students of the importance of using good judgment. However, the order of the WISE steps is intentional. When we are doing science, we are always asking one key question: Is the claim supported by evidence? The Inspect and Sensemaking steps focus on data analysis to support claims - a critical science practice. When we encounter claims in everyday life, we have to be careful though. Not everyone is playing by the rules of science, so we need to consider potential motives, bias, mistakes, and appeals to emotion with the Worthiness and Emotion steps.