Background and Context. One goal of K-12 computing education is to teach computational concepts that support learners in responsible and competent use and evaluation of digital technologies. However, recent research indicates that students struggle to make use of such concepts to understand data-driven technologies from everyday life. This raises the question of how to support students’ empowerment in navigating and shaping the digital world.

Objectives. This paper presents a study that investigates how understanding concepts of data and data-driven technologies supports students’ development of empowerment and agency in everyday life. This involves developing an educational approach to support students in relating computational concepts to everyday experiences and thus supports development of empowerment.

Method. We have developed a Rasch-scaled instrument to measure understanding of data-driven technologies, as well as motivation, intention, and empowered behavior to engage with these technologies in everyday life. Using this instrument, the study evaluates an educational approach, which we call learning “explanatory models” about digital technologies, that specifically supports such relations between concepts learned in computing and students’ everyday experiences.

Findings. The results suggest that understanding of data-driven technologies leads to empowered behaviors in everyday interactions with such technologies. Furthermore, the results indicate improvements in students’ understanding of data-driven technologies, intentions, and empowered behaviors in everyday life, while motivation did not significantly increase. We interpret that the approach supports students to make use of the concepts in everyday life and in developing empowerment in a digital world.

Implications. This paper demonstrates how the relations between learning about computational concepts and students’ development of empowerment in everyday life can be examined. In addition, it shows how computing education can support students in relating the concepts learned in class to their everyday experiences and suggests a continuum for developing empowerment in navigating the digital world.