Journal 3 Infographics

Krauss, J. (2012). Infographics more than words can say. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(5), 10-11. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/DigitalEdition/digital-edition-May-2012.aspx
Summary: The article, “Infographics: More than Words Can Say,” written by Jane Krauss speaks of the benefits of utilizing infographics in the classroom. Infographics are a way to represent data and ideas through the use of pictures and other visuals. This causes the reader to interpret and explore the meaning of the picture by using multiple parts of the brain in order to understand the problem/information provided in the visual. By creating visuals requires the reading to use higher thinking skills to answer such questions as, ‘what am I seeing?’ And ‘What does this picture represent?’ These are the same skills people use to solve problems in computer science and engineering fields.

Reflection: As a special educator, I like the idea of info graphics because it combines the use of textbooks and lectures, which is the linguistics side of learning with visuals, graphic organizers and kinesthetic activities, which is the non-linguistic side of learning in order to assist comprehension. In my experience, most students are visual learners and/or benefit from visual cues so this can be a very powerful tool for students.

Question:  My question relates to teaching special education students specifically. How affective are the use of info graphics in a classroom of students with learning disabilities? Most educators know that the more learning modalities one incorporates into a lesson, the more likely students will capture the objective and idea of the lesson. On the other hand, just like teaching from a textbook, the ‘depth’ of learning will vary when teaching special education students, solely because of their lack of experiences. I also feel that info graphics is a ‘solution’ based and ‘process’ based learning technique, which I feel students lack, whether they have learning difficulties or not. My students struggle just to locate basic information from a text that is literally stated within the text. I can’t imagine how much scaffolding and support my students would need in order for them to ‘find the solution’ or process within a visual. All in all, I would be very interested to see how a technique like this would be implemented into a special education setting.

Question 2: How can Infographics help students improve social skills?  Many students with special needs lack appropriate social skills in order to be mainstreamed into the general population.  I am wondering how can the use of infographics improve this concern? Although, infographics are used generally to create higher order thinking skills but I feel that the graphics can help the students learn basic interaction/social skills.  Many students use a form of infographics already, especially students with autism.  Rather than relying on verbal communication, many children point to pictures to communicate.  I guess this is taking that technique and utilting it in other ways.