instructional technology network
tri-county educational service center

Gapminder is data visualization tool.

Yes, it sounds a little dull when you put it that way, but when coupled with a mountain of socio-economic and demographic data, it is an unbelievable picture of our world. It is an excellent resource for charting and comparing data on countries around the world and looking at the relationship between those data.

Compare life expectancy, number of doctors, internet use, infant mortality rates, phone use, boy:girl ratios in schools, and a big handful of other indicators.

This is a great tool for helping your student visualize the discrepancies (i.e., gaps) between their lifestyles and that of others worldwide and could spark some incredible discussions.

Find it online at http://tools.google.com/gapminder.

Scott McLeod (one of my favorite education/technology/leadership bloggers) has pointed out the availability of [free] tutorials on data analysis at School Data Tutorials.

“The tutorials on the web site highlight many of the Excel skills that are helpful when working with building- and district-level data. The tutorials are targeted at data managers, principals, guidance counselors, teachers, and other school personnel who have the responsibility for collecting, analyzing, and reporting K-12 performance data (which is just about everyone these days!).”

Specifically highlighted are four categories of skills that McLeod and his team think every education-related professional should understand: freeze panes, sort, filter, and conditional formatting.

While you can jump straight over to the site at schooldatatutorials.org, I recommend you start with the original article, cross-posted at LeaderTalk.org and DangerouslyIrrelevant.org , and follow the links provided there.