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Ellis Abel Learns.

In my own words · Buchanan County, VA

Why I love data

A close-up of one row of the Discover supercomputer, showing about 2,000 processors stacked in cabinets with cabling. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Data" page — read by families in Buchanan County, VA.
A close-up of one row of the Discover supercomputer, showing about 2,000 processors stacked in cabinets with cabling. NASA/Pat Izzo · Public domain
  • Numbers tell me things people forgot to notice.
  • I can count something nobody counted before.
  • A picture of numbers shows what a list hides.

You can love data in Buchanan County.

What it really is

Data is what you get when you count something carefully and write it down.

Three things to try today

  1. Count something at home for seven days.
  2. Make a bar for each day.
  3. Find the day that does not fit and ask why.
A USGS hydrologist stands in the flooded Big Thompson River collecting flood data with streamflow measuring equipment. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Data" page — read by families in Buchanan County, VA.
A USGS hydrologist stands in the flooded Big Thompson River collecting flood data with streamflow measuring equipment. U.S. Geological Survey · Public domain

For the grown-up reading this

A child in Buchanan County, VA who loves data is not unusual. A child in Buchanan County, VA who is told that loving data is unusual — that is the problem. Buchanan County is one of 134 counties in Virginia.

The anomaly question is the beginning of analysis. Not what is the average, but what does not fit.

If the kid who loves this is a girl

Read what one popular teacher said to one little girl who took out the classroom trash without being asked — and what that girl did with the rest of her life.

Girls are great at math — Buchanan County, VA →

Love something else too

The Robonaut 2 humanoid robot, with a gold-visored head and two jointed arms, mounted inside the Destiny laboratory of the space station. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Robotics" page — read by families in Buchanan County, VA.Why I love robotsThe tracked crawler-transporter carries a mobile launcher platform and twin solid rocket boosters along the crawlerway toward Launch Pad 39A. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Engineering" page — read by families in Buchanan County, VA.Why I love engineeringThe International Space Station with its newly attached Destiny laboratory, photographed from space shuttle Atlantis above a cloud-covered Earth. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Space" page — read by families in Buchanan County, VA.Why I love spaceA Hubble Space Telescope view of the faint blue spiral galaxy NGC 3274 surrounded by scattered stars on a black background. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Astronomy" page — read by families in Buchanan County, VA.Why I love starsA Rocket Lab Electron rocket lifts off from its launch pad, trailing a bright orange exhaust plume. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Rockets" page — read by families in Buchanan County, VA.Why I love rocketsNASA's long-nosed X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft flies over the California desert alongside an F/A-18 chase plane. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Planes" page — read by families in Buchanan County, VA.Why I love planesA FreeFly Alta X quadcopter drone hovers in the air during wildfire response flight tests near Redding, California. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Drones" page — read by families in Buchanan County, VA.Why I love dronesTwelve gold-coated hexagonal mirror segments of the James Webb Space Telescope installed side by side on the telescope's backplane at Goddard. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Telescopes" page — read by families in Buchanan County, VA.Why I love telescopes

Near Buchanan County

Why I love data, everywhere in the US · All things to love · STEM jobs you could do · Summer camps in Buchanan County