Incorporating infographics into teaching and learning provides a great way for students to use their critical thinking skills by analyzing and drawing conclusions on visuals presented by the teacher as a point of discussion or created by students as a synthesizing activity.
An infographic is a visual representation of data and/or complex information that enables the viewer to more easily interpret information and is more engaging than text formatted data.
(http://epicr.com/2010/11/five-must-see-water-infographics/)
I sat in on a couple of interesting sessions presented by Kathy Schrock and David Warlick at last and this yearʻs ISTE conferences that shared ideas on how teachers can incorporate infographics into their classrooms. Both sessions focused on using infographics as a creative assessment tool. Kathy provided a step by step process for guiding students through research, data gathering, consolidating and synthesizing information, and creating an infographic that reflects their interpretation and conclusions of the information they studied. Check out her infographics site which includes the process as well as a whole pot of stew on incorporating infographics into your classroom.
(http://thinkgreen.typepad.com)
Here are some cool infographic making tools that David Warlick shared:
Google Public Data
Many Eyes
Phrasenet
Check out his page for more on infographics and once you get started, hereʻs a great place to create and share infographics – easel.ly
