This post is part of our ‘Reinventing Education' blog series, where we invite you to explore experiential learning opportunities in Greater Boston and embrace the potential for a new kind of educational ecosystem where learning thrives everywhere, not just in schools. We’re excited to showcase our fabulous partners for the upcoming WPS Summer Leadership Institute, building exciting connections and celebrating the collaborative spirit that drives educational excellence and positive social change.
Welcome to the fourth part of our blog series! We're excited to continue sharing the powerful experiences from our recent Summer Leadership Institute (SLI). This three-week program ran from July 8-26 on our campus in Newton Center. High school students visited some of Greater Boston's most innovative spaces, learned real-world leadership skills, and developed their own community impact projects. This week’s post highlights Rahul Bhargava at Northeastern University, with whom our SLI students explored how to create visualizations of data that can help spur positive change in the world.
Data sculptures transform data into physical, often artistic representations. They can tell compelling stories and present information in engaging and beautiful ways—including murals, sculptures, and even theater. This is just one facet of the admirable work that Rahul Bhargava does. A widely-published researcher, innovative educator, and sought-after facilitator, Bhargava has collaborated with public libraries, community groups, businesses, international governments, and various schools and nonprofits. In addition to serving as an Assistant Professor of Journalism and Art + Design at Northeastern University, Bhargava co-runs Connection Lab with his wife Emily Bhargava, a private consultancy in Somerville, MA, that employs a creative, participatory approach to health promotion and data literacy.
When asked about what led him to his current work, Bhargava explains, “I tend to talk about myself as a recovering computer scientist.” Originally trained as a computer and electrical engineer, he spent considerable time working on robotics, particularly at the intersection of robotics and education. This path led him to MIT's Center for Civic Media, where he researched science, journalism, and civic technology—and the interplay between all three. Bhargava became particularly interested in, as he says, “using technology with community to try to help bring people together in various ways to solve problems that matter to them.” He and his colleagues specifically focused on big questions: “What does it mean to think about technology in civic settings? When do you use it? When is it better to not use it? And how do you build it so that it's sustainable?” These inquiries eventually led Bhargava to Northeastern.
During the Summer Leadership Institute at WPS, students worked on “Community Impact Projects” geared at creating positive change in their communities. Bhargava was excited to help our students explore ways in which data visualizations might be helpful with the development of these projects, especially because data is something that they are inevitably going to encounter as they begin to dive into the problems they’re trying to solve in their communities. “Data is a language of power,” Bhargava says. “And by that I mean data is being used by decision makers that change how we function in society. Local governments, for example, use data to decide where they should spend funds. So we need to help young people speak that language.”
Instead of focusing solely on spreadsheet training to teach the language of data, Bhargava takes a broader approach. “I argue that doing data sculpture work—working with physical manifestations of data—is a better set of techniques for bringing people into the world of working with data,” he explains. “I think that's for a variety of educational reasons, and it’s why I ran a data sculpture workshop with the WPS students that helps them work with a small set of data, learn how to turn it into a physical form, and then create a project that is made out of physical materials for display and discussion.”
Bhargava understands that different people know and understand information in different ways. “In civic settings, engaging a variety of ways of understanding information is really important,” he says. “A chart may work for some people, but for others, they may need to see something they can walk around—something they can touch and talk about in order to understand. That's one of the goals of the sculptural work.” With WPS students aiming to create projects that impact entire communities, they were fortunate to have the opportunity to learn new skills and tools from Bhargava, helping them experiment with ways their projects could speak to a broader audience.
At the end of the day, Bhargava wanted his work with WPS students to help equip them to facilitate social progress. “My main goal is to help them feel comfortable using information to make the arguments that they want to make in order to to change the world around them,” he says. “I want to make sure that they have on-ramps into working with data that help lots of different types of learners.”
We’re thrilled that our students benefited from Bhargava’s expertise in data visualizations, which will help equip them with the skills and knowledge to drive impactful projects within their communities.
Learn more about the WPS Summer Leadership Institute.
Ryan Bani Tahmaseb is a learning coach, curriculum developer, and author. He champions student choice, believes in the extraordinary potential of every learner, and is committed to harnessing the transformative power of meaningful relationships between educators and students.
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