The world we live in has become such a data and information driven society that many people have a painstaking time making sense of information there is floating out there. Being a data driven society will not change anytime soon, especially since Google is more concerned with data and how it delivers it, rather than the aesthetics of their site and search engine. But, how can we take data and present it in a fashion that is exciting and no longer static? This is an idea I constantly struggle with, especially since I teach middle school. How to present the information, data, that is applying, entertaining, and non-linear fashion particularly students? Here is where infographics comes into play.
Infographics, or information graphics, are visual representations of data, information, and/or knowledge. Infographics poses real-world data in exactly the definition’s form – visually stunning. Using visually stunning infographics also does something more than communicate data. For students to use them or create them they are looking at data from other points of view and thinking creatively how to transform that data into something appealing and thought provoking. Students are much more inclined to want to learn when using manipulatives they are able to relate to. Sorry, boring Excel bar graph, pie chart, flow charts, and line graph, you just don’t cut it anymore! I am not to saying that we shouldn’t still teach them and students still learn them, but education and teaching new to keep up with the trends.
Below are some examples of stunning infographics that do an amazing job communicating design, style, and information that we can use in our classroom:
Are We Over the Worst? – Economy
50 Years of Space Exploration – NASA
Here is another link to 27+ beautiful examples of infographics.
Here you can find the flickr group for infographics.