Network science is a significant pathway into understanding many kinds of Big Data. Since its inceptions during the late 20th century it has been increasing its relevance to people’s everyday life. Networks can help us to make sense of this increasingly complex world, making it a useful literacy for people living in the 21st century. Recent work involving interventions directly with middle and high school students and teachers in developing network science skills in informal and student research settings has demonstrated that network science can be a powerful and motivating approach to understanding and theorizing solutions to complex social, health and environmental problems. Network science research also provides opportunities to develop many of the skills, habits of mind and core ideas from nascent teaching and learning standards that are not being addressed in extant curricula and teaching practice. There is a need for curricula, resources and professional development about networks, and the network science community needs to take the first steps in making a societal impact by developing accessible educational materials, tools and techniques.

To initiate this process, one key question was posed to the network science community: What should every person living in the 21st century know about networks by the time they finish secondary education? The result presented here — Network Literacy: Essential Concepts and Core Ideas — is truly a group effort, representing the distillation of the thoughts, comments, and writings of over 30 network science researchers, educators, teachers and students. 

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 Translated Versions

Arabic version by Aya Al-Zarka and Rawan Shabbar
Brazilian Portuguese version by Tarcizio Silva
Catalan version by Gemma Rosell and Albert Diaz
Chinese (Mandarin) version by Flora (Xianglin) Meng
Chinese (trad. Mandarin) version by Tzu-Chi Yen and Cheng-Te Li
French version by Chantal Bonner Cherifi
Dutch version by Paul van der Cingel
German version by Andreas Joseph & Florian Klimm
Hebrew version by Saray Shai and Mor Nitzan
Hungarian version by Peter Pollner
Italian version by Paolo Tieri
Japanese version by Yoshi Fujiwara, Toshihiro Tanizawa and Hiroki Sayama
Korean version by Sang Hoon Lee and Mi Jin Lee
Persian version by Taha Yasseri
Polish version by Przemyslaw Kazienko and Adam Wierzbicki
Russian version by Elene Pugacheva and Lyubov Tupikina
Spanish version by Rosa Benito
Turkish version by Hamit Özen, Fatma Gümüş and Mehmet F Yıldırı
Ukrainian version by Elena Pugacheva  

 

For more information contact naevideo at networkliteracy.org