Presenter: Dr. Debra Hydorn, CAS-Mathematics
Infographics have become a common method for communicating science and offer an engaging way to inform K-12 students and the general population. An online search for “science infographics” reveals a vast variety of infographics, from those professionally produced for government agencies and science magazines to some that are less sophisticated but equally engaging that are created using simple-to-use and easily accessible online infographics tools. Using infographics to effectively communicate science relies on the graphical and quantitative literacy skills of both the producer of the infographic and the audience for the infographic. I have developed a first-year seminar on infographics that introduces students to the components of infographics and visual communication. The course focuses on the content and design of infographics and some tools for creating for creating them. By examining a wide variety of infographics students identify the features that make them effective which they then use to develop a rubric for evaluating infographics.
Two quotes by Gareth Cook, author of Best American Infographics, support the importance of developing our students’ ability to communicate through infographics: “We find ourselves in the era of big data, a time when information moves faster than ever, and infographics provide us with quick, often influential bursts of insight and knowledge. They are a mesmerizing new way of seeing and understanding our world” and “The same forces that have made it possible for infographics to proliferate have also made us hungry for them. We are deluged with information, and infographics promise to make sense of it… the best of them bring clarity, answering urgent questions and making us think.”