More Than Words Can Say Simply Put, Infographics Are Visual Displays of Information

Home , Infographic

By Jane Krauss What Is an Infographic? More Than Words Can Say Simply put, infographics are visual displays of information.

InfographicsGood learning experiences ask students to investigate and make sense of the world. While there are many ways to do this, K–12 curriculum has traditionally skewed toward reading and writing to interpret and express students’ sense-making. But there is another way. Infographics represent data and ideas visually, in pictures, engag- ing more parts of the brain to look at a problem from more than one angle. Infographics ask for an active response from the An infographic viewer, raising the ques- Infographics go is handcrafted to tions, “What am I seeing?” a step beyond the old- bundle related data sets and “What does it mean?” fashioned graphics—charts, into a unified, visually As the old adage goes, timelines, tables, and graphs— compelling representation. a picture is worth 1,000 created by simply applying a The juxtaposition of those computer program to a few words, and pictures can be sets of information relates like data sets. a more complex essential when complexity story. demands more than words can say.

Meet the Standards

Most subject-matter The NETS for Students address skill sets that include the The “anchor standards” in the standards give attention interpretation and creation of infographics. The NETS’ Common Core State Standards to sense-making and Creativity and Innovation indicators include creating define college and career read- information literacy, original works and using models, its Communication iness, in part, as the ability to both of which students and Collaboration indicators speak to communicating “integrate and evaluate content develop when they information and ideas using a variety of media, and presented in diverse media and interpret and design the Research and Information Fluency section refers to formats, including visually and

istockphoto.com/busimarusi infographics. processing data and reporting results using a variety of tools. quantitatively, as well as in words.” iste.org/standards/nets-students www.corestandards.org

10 Learning & Leading with Technology | February 2012 graphic organizers Linguistic modeling software Boost Comprehension textbooks

Infographics computer simulations

lectures Nonlinguistic kinesthetic activities Because they make use of both words and visuals, infographics strike the sweet spot where Robert Marzano www.marzanoresearch.com linguistic and nonlinguistic Education researcher systems converge. Robert Marzano confirmed that learners acquire and store knowledge though linguistic systems, which they use when they read or listen to lectures, and This green- nonlinguistic systems, card application which they tap to process flowchart (http://tinyurl. computer simulations com/7tbomzh), created by and kinesthetic activities. high school seniors from the The more students use Science Leadership Academy, both systems, the better follows the “if-then” rule of they are able to store, BASIC programming, a recall, and apply new computational thinking understandings. concept.

Teach Computational Thinking

Much of the mental processing that goes example, students can collect statistics into the development of infographics has about their friends’ Facebook connections, parallels in computational thinking (CT), the analyze the data, and present their findings CT is essential for working with these large data thinking patterns that computer scientists graphically. sets and creating infographics to help analyze use to solve problems. CT skills have value Recent technological advances have them. Imagine how your students might use CT beyond computer science, as they help us led to an explosion of available data, skills to collect, process, and render raw data into approach problems and apply processes to allowing students and teachers to access infographics, with or without the aid of computer solve them. CT can help students practice a much wider variety of real-time statistics programs. with data sets of any size, manipulate that on such topics as weather patterns, For more information about computational data, and represent it in an infographic. For deforestation, and population movements. thinking, visit iste.org/computational-thinking.

February 2012 | Learning & Leading with Technology 11 Teaching Infographics Lesson Plans

Does your curriculum ask students Introduce Infographics to engage in analysis and interpre- The Ski Utah infographic Ask your students to pretend they tation to derive meaning? You can below, created by work for the Utah tourism bureau. use infographics as a tool for develop- Michael Greenberg when Their charge is to design a promo- ing these capabilities in your students, he was a high school tional poster that will convince visitors senior, gives a sense that Utah’s slogan, “The Greatest Snow both when they interpret the graphics of how a single and when they create them. infographic can on Earth,” is true. Let them talk to one represent multiple another and noodle around a bit with Interpret data sets. sketches. n Present infographics that ask students to make sense of Share Michael Greenberg’s Ski Utah infographic. Display an enlarged view dynamic systems, relational Step One: Get an idea. data, or change over time. from his Graph the Info blog at www. graphthe.info. n To build their critical faculties, present both good and bad Ask students what they learned about charts, graphs, and infographics skiing in Utah from Greenberg’s pictorial for students to examine. representation. Encourage them to examine the legend, which describes an unusual n Part of information literacy is representation of area. Ask what they can being alert to the intentions of infer about the mountains that may get the the person or group that puts most and least business. Ask them to make forth the information. Help stu- conjectures about how many data sets the dents determine when statistics infographic represents and how Greenberg reflect value judgments, are Step Two: Sketch it out. derived them. presented in a distorted scale, or lie in other ways. Ask how they could represent other data of interest to someone contem- Create plating a Utah ski vacation, such as n By making infographics, students the distance from the airport or winter learn that the ways they represent temperatures. data are as important as the data Together, read what Greenberg writes they collect. on his blog about the five-step n Students learn how to make sense process he used to create the Ski Utah of statistical data by representing infographic. the important features of a data Step Three: Collect the data. set and the relationships between data sets. n Teach students that in the pictorial “narratives” of their infographics, the data have to be valid, and the representation has to be true.

Research has shown that, Step Four: Develop proof of concepts. Step Five: Lay it out and have fun. of the sensory receptors in our body, 70% reside in our eyes.

Copyright © 2012, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), [email protected], www.iste.org. All rights reserved. 12 Learning & Leading with Technology | February 2012 The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommends that students Solve a Problem Government Function at every grade level undertake A middle school class is studying In Diana Laufenberg’s 12th grade social investigations in which they livability in their town. After a student’s studies class at the Science Leadership collect and represent data grandmother breaks her hip on a broken Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, graphically. sidewalk, a project emerges that asks USA, students learn about U.S. government students to respond to the question: “Can functions managed by the executive branch. everyone get where they need to go?” Laufenberg has her students interact with federal functions as anyone might who Students notice that many sidewalks are More Lesson Plan Ideas navigates a bureaucratic process. They broken, making them impassable for people Imagine students pondering: “apply” for federal student aid or a green using strollers, wheelchairs, walkers, and card. They make a request permitted by n An interactive map showing the canes. They notice that trash cans and cars the Freedom of Information Act. Along the percentage of family income that block bike lanes. They begin to survey their way, they analyze each process, make a goes toward food in countries neighborhoods, recording their neighbors’ pictorial representation of that process, and around the world mobility challenges and identifying the recommend ways it might be improved. worst impediments. n A visualization of time-travel By approaching what they are learning plots in films and TV Imagine the data they can collect. from many different angles—including How might they present their information participating in real-world tasks and n An infographic that represents the pictorially to tell a story and make the creating infographics—their understanding largest bankruptcies in history by case for resolving these problems? What of the myriad ways that citizens interact showing insolvent companies as might their infographic look like? Who with the government is much deeper and sinking ships of relative size might the audience be for a persuasive more memorable than it would be if they appeal that incorporates the infographic? had just read about it and written a report. Simple Rules for Making Infographics The New York Times Tell a story. Supply a context for the More Rules Learning Network blog information you are trying to present with Several sets of guidelines (http://tinyurl.com/26kxu93) titles, pictures, a legend, or even a key are available to help students offers suggestions for teaching question, such as, “How well do citizens in represent data accurately and with infographics found on our town get around?” convincingly with infographics: the NYT news pages. Be clear. If someone can’t tell how Atlantic Magazine Online different elements contribute, it’s back to www.theatlanticwire.com/ the drawing board. technology Search for rules for Use good data. Use only “fresh” data homemade infographics. from reliable sources. This includes data Flowing Data you may have collected yourself! www.flowingdata.com Search for simple Pay attention. As you move through the Bill Gates felt design rules. world, you’ll notice infographics everywhere. compelled to fund Look at each and think about how it might malaria eradication efforts be a launching pad for learning in your after seeing a 1997 New York classroom. Encourage students to bring Times infographic about infographics to your attention too. As you The Oxford the disease. and your students become infographic English Dictionary added literate, you’ll want to start creating the term infographic infographics of your own. in 2011.

Copyright © 2012, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), [email protected], www.iste.org. All rights reserved. February 2012 | Learning & Leading with Technology 13 Infographic Resources Good Data Sources Sources for infographics abound. Make their interpretation one of the regular ways CIESE Real-Time Data Projects: you bring the outside world into your classroom. www.ciese.org/realtimeproj.html Google Public Data Explorer: Infographics Gurus www.google.com/publicdata/home For a little infographic inspiration, check out these people: Jane Krauss’ list of bookmarked infographics: www.delicious.com/jkrauss/infographics United Nations Statistics Division: Edward Tufte (www.edwardtufte.com) http://unstats.un.org/unsd/default.htm has one simple but powerful idea: Wolfram Alpha Computational Knowledge Represent as much data as possible Engine: www.wolframalpha.com with as little ornamentation as possible. Let the data speak for itself. Infographic Sources Cool Infographics: www.coolinfographics.com Floating Sheep: www.floatingsheep.com Flowing Data: http://flowingdata.com Nathan Yau (http://nathanyau.com) GapMinder: www.gapminder.org plays with data. His focus is on GOOD/Transparency: www.good.is visualization and data for non- Infographics Showcase: www.infographics professionals, and he blogs showcase.com (author grades infographics about statistics and visualization at on information and display qualities) FlowingData (www.flowingdata.com). Information Aesthetics: http://infosthetics.com Information Is Beautiful: www.informationisbeautiful.net The New York Times Learning Network: David McCandless (www.david http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com mccandless.com) has a passion for visual- izing information—facts, data, ideas, sub- Tools for Creating Infographics jects, issues, statistics, and questions—all For Purchase with a minimum of words. He is interested in Adobe Illustrator: www.adobe.com/products/ how designed information can help people illustrator.html understand the world by revealing its hidden Adobe InDesign: www.adobe.com/products/ indesign.html connections, patterns, and stories. Adobe Photoshop: www.adobe.com/products/ photoshop.html

Lucid Chart: www.lucidchart.com Hans Rosling (www.gapminder.org) uses visualization software he developed Free Online to animate observations about broad social Google Spreadsheets: www.google.com/google- and economic trends. A professor of global d-s/spreadsheets health at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, Inkscape: http://inkscape.org Rosling uses infographics to dispel com- Many Eyes: www-958.ibm.com/software/data/ mon myths about the developing world. cognos/manyeyes Rhino 3D: www.rhino3d.com Science Pipes: http://sciencepipes.org/beta/home Tableau Public: www.tableausoftware.com/public Visual.ly: http://visual.ly/labs Jane Krauss, a past director of professional development at ISTE and co-author of Reinventing Project-Based Learning, is a curriculum and On Hand program development consultant. Her new book, The Project Leap, Graph paper will be published in 2012. Presentation software (Powerpoint, Keynote) Protractors and compasses Spreadsheet software (Excel, Numbers)

14 Learning & Leading with Technology | February 2012