Meet Common Core Standards with Infographics

The word cloud infographic above fromWordle, which organizes keywords from this post, shows the value of presenting information visually. Infographics are powerful and persuasive visual representations of information or data.Common Core State Standardsrequire that students be able to find, understand, evaluate, and create visual depictions. Infographics are a great way to meet these visual literacy-focused Common Core Standards.

Common Core and Visual Literacy

Here are some Common Core Standards that relate directly to visual literacy:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.7Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.7Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., quantitative data, video, multimedia) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.7Translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text into visual form (e.g., a table or chart) and translate information expressed visually or mathematically (e.g., in an equation) into words.

These standards seem complicated, but the concepts behind them are rooted in a long-established learning goal: visual literacy. Visual literacy includes the ability to find, understand, and evaluate information presented visually. A key challenge for educators is training students to think critically about visual representations. Enter infographics.

Infographics

The benefits of infographics are twofold: they help students understand data and information, and they help students learn to think critically about visual representations.

A Common Core-aligned infographics lesson should cover three major steps:

Findingreputable infographics on a subject of interest
Analyzinginfographics, paying attention to layout, content, and story
Creatinginfographics to include in a report or oral presentation

Resources

Check out these helpful infographics resources:

Finding:SIRS Issues Researcher’snew one-clickinfographics featurewill help students find a variety of colorful and informative infographics.
Analyzing:Our Common Core-aligned guide,Understanding Infographics, will help students analyze three major components of an infographic: layout, content, and story.
Creating:Easel.ly,Piktochart, andWordleare useful sites that will help students create their own infographics.

Infographics will engage students, help them meet Common Core Standards, and help them achieve visual literacy. Three birds, one stone. Done!