DV4L

Created in collaboration with social studies teachers, Data Visualization for Literacy (DV4L), allows students to create, edit, and compare graphs using large historical datasets. DV4L also supports social studies inquiry by allowing teachers and students to specify a driving question within the tool, view the source of each dataset, and compare graphs in order to raise questions about similarities and differences between them. DV4L starts with two pre-set graphs, and users can then modify the graphs or specify a different dataset. There are many datasets already available in the tool, including topics like countries’ populations and military spending, so teachers do not need to spend time finding, verifying, and formatting sources of data. Any graph can be saved on the right of the screen for later analysis and comparison.