Infographics in the Classroom

According to Wikipedia Infographics are defined as:

“graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly.”

Nathan Yau’s website, ‘Flowing Data‘, has some excellent tutorials on how to read and understand infographics. He also offers a four week course for Visualization in R (a coding language). The infographics on this site are visually appealing and the data is easy to read. The graphics are aesthetically pleasing. My favourites include the ‘London Underground Rent Map‘ and a well explained ‘Venn Diagram Tutorial’.

In the Classroom

I have been searching for relevant infographics through the lens of a teacher. How can I incorporate this vast resource of visual data into my teaching? As I am currently teaching Year 6 (Grade 5) I wanted to find something they would understand easily and enjoy analyzing. I decided to use this lego venn diagram by Stephen Wildish. The maths learning outcome is to to introduce our own methods of sorting and classifying.

I introduced this image without any introduction and asked the students to explain the information. They then had to reflect on what the ‘rules’ of Venn Diagrams are using googledocs.

The follow up task was then for students to create their own venn diagrams. They will design and photograph it and provide an explanation of their sorting procedure (using book creator). We will spend the next few weeks ‘tinkering’ on infographics in our unit lessons. My summative assessment tool for Maths can then be ‘create an infographic to demonstrate your understanding of the properties of 3D shapes.

Visual Data in the Classroom

In our previous Maths unit (place value) my students began an independent inquiry into the Indian number system (the Vedic numbering system) and how this differs from the international number system. We spent some time brainstorming and comparing the different language and systems used. Eventually our discussion resulted in a shared understanding and we were able to record this quick conversion chart.

Following on from this inquiry I wanted to present my class with an easy to read visual conversion chart which summed up their findings- however we were unable to find one. So now I am experimenting with trying to create one. Here is my first draft:

I can see that even my initial attempts on Piktochart produce a more effective method of presenting information than my paper version. The information is clear and more aesthetically appealing. I look forward to seeing what my students can create!