I’ve considered using infographics with my students before – in fact I’ve purchased a few children’s books about infographics – but I’ve always decided that it was too complex a process for primary students. Now that I’ve learned more about it and gone through the steps myself I’m rethinking that decision.
Kathy Schrock’s video Infographics as a Creative Assessment really helped me see the underlying structure as well as applications in my library for creating infographics. When I stepped back a little from viewing the products and listened to the what they were really doing – pointing out the important facts and details, comparing and contrasting ideas, clarifying or illustrating trends – I realized that the creation of infographics would be a fine addition to my curriculum.
For example, we frequently use Venn diagrams and other visual methods of comparison. An infographic would provide even more visuals. The method of repeating or adapting some kind of line drawing or using simple clip art charts could be used to create these products. The ubiquitous animal or pet research project could get a new spin. I would much rather see a student learn about which are the most popular or unusual pets or how much care or food different dog breeds require than merely choose an animal to research. I recently completed a spreadsheet/database lesson about favorite ice cream flavors and toppings – it would have been a great addition to add some fun infographic aspect to that. And perhaps the students who are always requesting a very specific item can do a little research to see how many unicorn books (5) we have in a collection of 20,000 books and why I advise them to broaden their view! In fact, just the process of collecting the images will allow the students to see once again how and where to look for the items and practice citations.
I’m looking forward to including some infographic creation in some of my future lessons!