Students benefit from having opportunities to explore extensive, complex datasets using technology tools that are intuitive and accessible. Likewise, middle school teachers require convenient access to captivating datasets, supportive resources, and classroom-appropriate software. We developed two CODAP (Common Online Data Analysis Platform) plugins that allow students to engage with data about their daily lives, build their data fluency, and answer questions about Earth’s systems. These plugins support the three-dimensional learning approach central to the NGSS. Students employ science and engineering practices (analyzing and interpreting data and using mathematics and computational thinking), gain insight into disciplinary core ideas related to energy flow from the sun and the resulting uneven heating of the Earth, and explore crosscutting concepts (patterns and cause and effect). This article introduces the Day Length plugin with three different lesson entry points that provide students with autonomy and help them build independence in developing data visualizations. The NASA plugin can be used in similar ways and includes a wider array of real-time data.
Perez, L., Reichsman, F., Salisbury, S., Chin, C., & Mcintyre, C. (2025). Daylight data: Deepening Earth systems understanding with CODAP plugins. Science Scope, 48(5), 10–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/08872376.2025.2537627