Learning Visually

What?

Infographics work in the classroom because they grab students and allow an entry point to learning — and because they sum up pages and pages, even chapters, of information that would take a reader hours to process. Interactive infographics make kids want to immediately start clicking around to see what’s what. For a teacher who prioritizes an inquiry-driven classroom, that’s a great starting point. Infographics and Data visualization are not just for consumption though, teachers and students can also challenge the learning process by creating original graphics for themselves.

David McCandless turns complex data sets (like worldwide military spending, media buzz, Facebook status updates) into beautiful, simple diagrams that tease out unseen patterns and connections. Good design, he suggests, is the best way to navigate information glut — and it may just change the way we see the world.

Hans Rosling was a master of visualization. Hands down, the most prolific advocate for the power of data, visualized. He died in 2017 and the loss to the world of understanding will be felt. I had a chance to meet him in 2012 and he is as dynamic and passionate in person as he is in his videos. The world made more sense, when he used data and visuals to help us understand.