Heat Maps as a Fun and Instructive Way to Gauge Student Perceptions on Skill Development

Graphical Abstract

Abstract

Capturing student perspectives and growth in a quick, engaging way has long been a goal for many STEM educators. The STEM program, Systems Education Experiences (SEE), works directly with high school students and teachers in informal settings that feed into curriculum development for formal classrooms (Baliga Lab 2023; Day et al. 2021; Orellana et al. 2020; Ludwig et al. 2015; Ludwig and Baliga 2008). In this Brief, we share a fun, effective way of quickly gathering student perspectives on skill development over days, weeks, or months. This technique was first developed and tested in our online informal high school program, and is now being used in classrooms across 12 states (with the highest use respectively in Washington State, California, New Jersey, Oregon, Maryland, Texas, and Iowa) and eight countries.

Keywords:

• High School
• Informal Education
• Assessment
• Computer Science
• Science and Engineering Practices
• Teaching Strategies

Conclusion

Guiding students through using heat maps as a data visualization tool—and as a way to track and reflect on their own skill development—is a meaningful educational activity. This activity led to a high amount of engagement, elevated student voice, and gave students a way of seeing how their input led to pedagogical shifts. There is potential for expanding this activity into a more rigorous assessment to be used in both high school and community college courses. Because this is highly adaptable and engaging, we encourage you to use our template or create your own for use in your setting!

Acknowledgment

Thank you Rachel Calder (of Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) and OMNY Health) who used her data analysis skills to create and launch the first heat map template. Thank you to teacher Elizabeth Rider (North Kitsap High School Poulsbo, Washington) for helping launch this online in 2020 with 42 students in our first round of testing. Thank you Dr. Becky Howsmon (Ballard High School in Seattle, Washington) and Barbara Steffens (ISB) for helping to build this assessment into our curriculum module Systems are Everywhere and to the entire team of students and teachers for creating the module (see the reference below). Thank you also to Dr. Becky Howsmon, Dr. Jennifer Eklund, and Caroline Kiehle (ISB) who shared this assessment with hundreds of teachers and broadened its use to formal high school classrooms and community colleges. Thank you to Miranda Johnson and Sara Calder, AmeriCorps fellows who use it with students in our informal programming currently and shared it at the 2023 NSTA conference in Atlanta, Georgia. And thank you especially to Dr. Nitin S. Baliga for founding this program within his systems biology lab group. Since 2003 his leadership and support have enabled the translation of STEM content and skills into hands-on learning for millions of students. This work was funded by the Boeing Foundation and by the National Science Foundation (DBI-1565166 & 2042948).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Claudia McLaughlin Ludwig

Claudia McLaughlin Ludwig, M.Ed., NBCT, is Director of Systems Education Experiences in the Baliga Lab at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Washington. Her expertise includes bridging the distance between professional STEM research and classrooms while broadening participation in STEM.