By Allison Horten

🔗 linkedin.com/in/allisonhorten727

Research Focus: STEM Curriculum and Instruction

Type: Other Student Research (ongoing)

What research challenge does your research address?

Data literacy and the critical evaluation of evidence aren’t explicitly named in secondary science standards, yet they’re essential skills for students navigating a data-driven, real world. Without a coordinated K–12 framework, cohesive curriculum resources, or adequate funding and professional development, teachers are often left to build this instruction on their own. Horten’s research investigates how teachers experience and navigate this gap, with the goal of expanding equitable access to science literacy resources — especially in diverse, under-resourced school communities where the consequences fall hardest.

What inspired you to pursue this research?

Horten draws on almost a decade of experience teaching biology and serving as a department chair and district science facilitator in Title I schools. High teacher turnover and shifting curriculum expectations meant that new and experienced teachers alike were often left to build data literacy instruction without a coherent framework or the support to develop one. She also noticed students navigating an increasingly complex digital information landscape without the tools to evaluate what they encountered — alongside consistently low district ACT scores — both signals that teachers needed better curriculum support to help students interpret graphs, evaluate evidence, and reason critically. Horten wanted research that took teachers’ expertise seriously and built solutions with them, not for them, so students are equipped to navigate evidence and information with confidence.

What has your research found so far, and what is its impact?

The research is ongoing. Horten is already seeing several themes emerge within the context of chronic underfunding and other structural barriers: teachers want a vertical alignment framework spanning grades K–12, they’re improvising curriculum in the absence of authentic data resources, and critical information literacy is going untaught. She frames these as structurally produced conditions rather than teacher shortcomings — a distinction that is shaping her next cycle of research, in which she’ll co-design curriculum materials and professional learning with teachers, aiming for tools that are sustainable and genuinely usable in their classrooms.