The Importance of Teaching About Reading, Creating, and Critisizing Infographics
As a Social Studies teacher with a particular fondness for United States Presidential history, I find great interest in the Presidential campaign season. I truly enjoy studying all the candidates, even the ones widely considered long-shots, and their strategies to reach the White House. The 2016 Presidential election will long be remembered by many as unconventional and even chaotic. With Barrack Obama exiting the White House, the situation was prime for a dark horse candidate to emerge as a Presidential frontrunner. I remember this day well. It was late in the year 2015, when there were still over fifteen candidates vying to be the Republican representative. The field included many career politicians with established reputations as elected leaders, but on this night, I watched the news as the anchors declared a surprising candidate as the leader in the polls – former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore. I vaguely knew this man in name only. I had no knowledge of his political platform and certainly have not heard him name mentioned as a legitimate contender, but there was the graph on the screen clearly stating that nearly 40% of respondents favored Jim Gilmore as the Republican Presidential candidate, while no other candidate listed even surpassed 20%. Something seemed off so I looked at the source, listed in tiny text on the bottom of the screen, which stated that this poll data is from a voluntary questionnaire on the Jim Gilmore campaign website. I was really bothered that a national news channel either did not realize that this data was tainted because obviously people voluntarily visiting Gilmore’s and choosing to take a poll are more likely to support his candidacy than a random sample, or the news channel did not care the poll results were inaccurate and chose sensationalism over journalistic integrity. It should go without saying that another poll which used more reliable methods yielded a much different result (See Figure 1).
Figure 1
Note:This information was compiled from a November 15, 2015 New York Times poll consisting of a random sampling of 1,000 respondents who self-identified as likely voting Republican in the 2016 Presidential election.
Infographics can act as a very useful tool by taking comparison data and condensing it in a presentation that is both more visually appealing and easier to read. Additionally, these types of visual aids often serve as a useful tool in understanding comparative data. (Yildirim, 2016). When used as an educational tool, infographics should be helpful for visual learners to better grasp certain information. According to Latasha Doyle (2019), "no matter how old students are or whatever skills they have, visuals drive the point home and make ideas easier to remember. Beyond just being utilized as a presentation tool, having students create their own infographics can be beneficial in testing their procedural knowledge on a subject and how to affectively shape an argument. (Turner & Hicks, 2017). Therefore, the benefits of using infographics in the classroom are twofold in that they can clarify presented information in addition to strengthening students' argument skills.
No matter how old students are or what individual skills they have, visuals drive the point home and make ideas easier to remember. (Doyle, 2019)
In summary, infographics can be a very valuable classroom tool by providing visualizations of otherwise complex data, teach students how to construct a strong argument, and it can also provide students with a skillset to identify and dissect misinformation. By empowering students with the knowledge to create a visual construct out of sound data, they will likewise be able to identify infographics that are created on a foundation of skewed data or misleading information and thus help create a new generation of responsible citizens in the digital world.
References:
Doyle, L. (2019, March 27). Why Are Infographics Effective in the Classroom? [web log]. Retrieved October 1, 2021, from https://www.easel.ly/blog/infographics-effective-classroom/.
Turner, K. H., & Hicks, T. (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching adolescents to read and write digital texts. Heinemann.
Yildirim, S. (2016). Infographics for Educational Purposes: Their Structure, Properties and Reader Approaches. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 15(3), 98–99.
Richard, I was intrigued by your observation that "having students create their own infographics" is an effective way of testing their "procedural knowledge" as well as showing them how to "shape an argument". You mentioned having students create a "visual construct" using "sound data", but you could go even further and have them design an infographic supporting an inaccurate/invalid claim, such as the belief that people should only eat junk food. This would enable students to comprehend just how easily the medium can be utilized to "oversimplify or slant information to support a particular view", as well as to uncover the biases and conflicts of interest which are often inherent in these images (Hicks & Turner, 2017, p. 61).
ReplyDeleteRichard, you did a great job of telling a personal story that was real to show students how easily the wrong data can be assumed. Students must make sure they read beyond the surface to make sure data is accurate.
ReplyDeleteTake a look at the “Table 2.2 Student Analysis of the Tump and Clinton logos” (Turner & Hicks, 2017, p. 50). It shows students how they can link political ideas with certain strong fonts. The use of tagline to insinuate in this case that “America is not great” (Turner & Hicks, 2017, p. 7). It’s important that students are being taught certain things like this that can be used for political persuasion or persuasion in general.