Using data visualisations to teach about race and racism in social studies methods courses

Using critical race theory as the lens, this interpretive case study examined how preservice teachers (PST) learned to teach about race/racism through data visualisations (dataviz) within two social studies methods courses, one where students of Colour are the majority and the other at a predominately white institution. The researchers found that the contexts had an important influence on how PSTs learn to teach about race/racism and dataviz. Second, across contexts, PSTs generally did not see critical data literacy as an aim of social studies education. Third, teachers may be able to develop a relatively strong sense of how to teach about race/racism or how to teach using dataviz, but it was more difficult to leverage them simultaneously.