Journal #3 - Infographics More than Words Can Say (NETS 1 & 2)

Krauss, J. (2012). Infographics more than words can say. Learning and Leading with Technology, February, 10-15. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/201202

Summary:

Infographics are another way to encourage students to interpret, analyze, and create. The traditional method in teaching seems to be focused only on a student's ability to read and write, and is less focused on their abilities to think a problem through. She gives an example of a project that would have her students pretend to work for the Utah tourism bureau and to design a promotional poster to convince people to visit Utah for skiing. It not only encourages creativity, but it also encourages problem-solving and a higher level of thinking then just reading and writing what they think. A middle-school class is instructed to observe the livability in their town. They are sent around town to observe things that could be improved such as broken sidewalks and bike lanes that are blocked by trash cans and cars. It is through this collection of data that they can draw conclusions in order to solve the problems. And the last example is a 12th grade class in Philadelphia, who are to learn about the functioning of the US government executive branch. They make requests based on the Freedom of Information Act, and "apply" for student financial aid and a green card. They are hands-on with the experience and create pictorial representations of the process.

Question:

1. It seems there would be a lot of controversy surrounding this method of teaching. How do you convince the parents and administrators that this is the best way to teach?

I don't really have an exact answer to this question, but I would think that you show the process to them first-hand and let them draw a conclusion about it. If you just try to cram a new way of teaching down their throats, then you will be met with resistance.


2. The infographics in this article were very busy and hard to follow, how could we make sure our students can follow along?


We need to take a step back when we are creating infographics. Come back at a later day and see if they still make sense to us. If we have a hard time drawing information from the infographics, then our students for sure will as well. More isn't always better, and making something complex just for complexity sake is not a good practice.