This paper contributes a theoretical framework informed by historical, philosophical and ethnographic studies of science practice to argue that data should be considered to be actively produced, rather than passively collected. We further argue that traditional school science laboratory investigations misconstrue the nature of data and overly constrain student agency in their production. We use our “Data Production” framework to analyze activity of and interviews with high school students who created data using sensors and software in a ninth-grade integrated science class. To understand the opportunities for students to develop act with and perceive agency in data production, we analyze in detail the case of one student as she came to use unfamiliar technologies to produce data for her own personally relevant purposes. We find that her purposes for producing data emerged as she worked, and that resistances to her purposes were opportunities to act with and perceive her own agency, and to see data in new ways. We discuss implications for designing science learning experiences in which students act as agents in producing and using data.

本文为科学实践的历史，哲学和人种学研究提供了理论框架，认为应该将数据视为主动产生，而不是被动收集。我们进一步认为，传统的学校科学实验室调查错误地解释了数据的本质，并在数据生成过程中过度限制了学生代理机构。我们使用“数据产生”框架来分析高中生的活动和访谈，这些中学生使用传感器和软件在九年级综合科学课中创建了数据。为了解学生发展与数据制作中的行为并感知代理的机会，我们详细分析了一名学生使用陌生技术来为自己的个人目的生成数据的情况。我们发现，她产生数据的目的是在她工作时出现的，并且对她的目的的抵制是与她自己的代理进行互动和感知并以新的方式查看数据的机会。我们讨论了设计科学学习经验的意义，在这些经验中，学生充当了产生和使用数据的主体。