Journal #3: Infographics

Journal 3: Infographics 

Krauss, J. (2012). Infographics. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(5), 10-13. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/February-2012.aspx

Summary: Infographics is a great way to get students involved with graphs, visuals, and analyzing data. This is great for younger students in elementary and middle level because it has more visuals, representations and explanations than an excel spreadsheet. Infographics creates data in a unified way to visually represent any given information. It incorporates both the Linguistic; textbooks and lectures, and Nonlinguistic side of learning through graphic organizers, modeling software, computer simulations, and kinesthetic activities. It is important to use all styles of learning in the curriculum so every student will learn they way that they are comfortable with. The teacher should have data already collected or do a poll in class using the students themselves. First students are usually given the topic the graph will be about, and then they are asked to sketch it out. The next step would be to collect the data, similar to an excel spreadsheet, and develop the proof of concepts. Lastly, they will create the graph using symbols and designs of their choice enabling them to see the data presented in a visual way.

Q: How can Infographics be used in a second grade classroom?

Students should be introduced to graphs as early as possible to help them understand concepts and visuals corresponding to their data. This might look difficult in a second grade classroom but if you start with something simple they will feel more comfortable reading and making charts in the future. For example, if you collect all the students’ hair color and then have them graph the data. There is no significance of the data that is being collected but it shows them what a graph looks like, and helps them how to graph. 

Q: New technologies for teaching are advancing fast, what kind of schools do you see using a program such as Infographics?

Everyone wants to use technology in their classroom but realistically it is not the priority of most districts. Most of the older schools are in the process of trying to buy more computers and other new technology for their classrooms. It is expensive and not every school has the budget. More computer labs and smart classrooms are more and more frequent in schools, but not all. It is going to take years for our schools to convert to this type of learning, but it will be effective for the education of our future students.