Using real world data in education

The integration of real world data into classrooms is a powerful mechanism to increase student interest and understanding of concepts. An increasing number of sources of real world data are becoming available for use in education. It is important for the sources of reliable data to be accessible by nonexpert audiences. Teacher training opportunities will expand the use of these educational materials and data in classrooms. However more research and development is needed to improve methods of data display and visualizations to better facilitate the understanding of real world data by non-expert audiences, including teachers and students