As part of the DataScEd4CiEn project, five primary teachers from five different schools across the South and South West of Ireland took part in professional development training focused on integrating data science with STEAM and social justice education. The training was held at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick on three dates during Spring 2025: March 29, May 10, and May 21.
Across the sessions, teachers engaged with the project’s five modules, designed to explore how data science can be a powerful lens for real-world inquiry. While some participants noted they were “only beginning to think about how data can link with broader social justice issues,” they also shared a growing sense of curiosity and commitment to this work, expressing that they would “love to learn how to support that kind of thinking in age-appropriate ways.”
One teacher remarked that the experience “has really blown my mind,” while others emphasized how the sample activities and STEAM scenarios “helped them see connections… they hadn’t considered before” and “left them with questions about how to design meaningful and manageable activities that connect with children’s interests and the world around them.”