Infographics for Beginners
One thing that always stands out about infographics is that they give you information in a quick way, telling you the most important or revealing data behind whatever the topic is. Instead of doing extensive research or reading a long article, the infographic gives you the information you need to know in a concise, visually appealing way. Infographics are defined as being "a combination of information and graphics (colorful pictures, images, and graphs) that give reasons and ideas to back up thesis on a topic" (Turner & Hicks, 2017, p.63). As there are so many uses of infographics in marketing, social media, and businesses, I also see how there are just as many ways they could be used in the classroom.
When reading Chapter 4 in Argument in the Real World, I began to realize how much of infographics are centered around the data that is compiled in them. For example, "the most important component of an infographic is accurate data... as an organization, you may already have data you can use, you just need to find it and sort it" (Turner & Hicks, 2017, p.62).
We teach data collection and probability in our math curriculum, and my students enjoy conducting their own primary research and taking surveys of questions they come up with and ask their classmates. Doing this activity, gives them data that they can use to create graphs and tables of information based on their results. Although they are able to collect primary research in this way, I think the most challenging part of teaching students to create infographics would be where to start and how to use existing data that students find on the internet. If they don't already have the data to use aside from primary research they did, how can they best find it and sort it? How can I set up the process of making an infographic in easy to follow steps?
Where to Begin?
Since it might be difficult to know where to begin when using data to create an infographic, I wanted to look more into this process. Table 4.4 in Argument in the Real World, was very helpful when thinking about the steps of making an infographic and what questions can guide the process. I like how it separated the creation of an infographic into the various craft elements which are story, data, media, design, and citation (Turner & Hicks, 2017, p.72).
An article on Edutopia, provided many answers to my question about finding and sorting data with young learners. To start researching, it's important that students have questions to be answered, safe search links to use for research, and a place to take notes on what they have found and keep up with data they want to use. Using Googleforms to submit websites they have already been on and what they found, as well as a website like Easybib which can keep an information log of link citations with notes (Hertz, 2012). Also, the video posted below helps explain how to go about determining whether a source is reliable or not so that students can decide if the data found should be used.
To know how to make infographics in a kid-friendly way and by using the findings from the textbook and outside research, I composed this infographic about the steps of making an infographic. I plan to use this in the future when teaching my students the purpose of an infographic and how to create one of their own using the data they found.
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFDyrPRaYg/XtZcu4-LUo5kpxZ0cUPr1Q/view?utm_content=DAFDyrPRaYg&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink
References:
Hertz, M. B. (2012). Doing Internet Research at the Elementary Level. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/elementary-research-mary-beth-hertz
Teaching without Frills. (2018). Writing Videos for Kids: How to Evaluate Sources for Reliability [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1k8rcYUmbQ.
Turner, K. H., & Hicks, T. (2017). Argument in the Real World: Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts. Heinemann.
Hi Grace,
ReplyDeleteI thought the video and infographic you included in your blog were really helpful to illustrate your post about teaching students to create infographics. The quote you used about making sure you start with accurate data from Turner and Hicks (2017) was very appropriate, and in fact related to my own blog about checking resources on infographics. Turner and Hicks (2017) go on to note that "as students navigate a sea of information, learning to curate sources so that they can locate information later is fundamental to growth as a reader and writer" (p.76). Understanding and accurately using the data found in research to put in an infographic is the starting point to the process. "Everyone using information from the internet must be aware of its reliability before using it to create an infographic. The information should be objective and accurate as well as easy to cross-reference to other sources" (Doyle, 2018). Good advice indeed.
References
Doyle, L (March 30, 2018). How to collect reliable information for your infographic. Easelly. https://www.easel.ly/blog/collect-reliable-information-infographic/
Turner, K.H. & Hicks, T. (2017) Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts: Argument in a real world. Heineman.
Grace,
ReplyDeleteI love that you specify your audience in terms of who you are creating these infographics for. In Chapter 1 of Digital Writing, Lawrence (2022) points out that targeting your audience is essential because essentially on a digital platform, the world can see it. I also love your emphasis on the reliability of the data used in the infographic. As Turner & Hicks (2017) point out, the rules of argumentation are still present, even in and especially in a digital sense. They also point out that the "data must be attributed to a reliable source" (p. 62). In my own opinion, I think that's the most important component because in digital communications, many of us are now programmed to look for areas where they may be presenting false information either intentionally or unintentionally.
References:
Lawrence, D. (2022). Digital Writing: A Guide to writing for Social Media and the web. Broadview Press.
Turner, K. H., & Hicks, T. (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts. Heinemann.