Infographics are a creative way to display data that breaks up complex information into bite-sized pieces. For this reason, it can be a great learning tool in education.
For one, such visualization can hold a person’s attention for longer. As people are exposed to more and more information every day, it’s hard to keep them focused and prevent them from quickly moving on to the next shiny piece of statistics.
Just for us to imagine how distracting it can get, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data were created daily in 2021, according to The Next Tech. Therefore, infographics can help by taking an overwhelming amount of facts and presenting them with engaging images and colors.
Besides, most people process visual material much faster and tend to recall it better.
Neuroscientists from MIT found that the brain analyzes an image in 13 milliseconds, making these visuals a great learning aid. Our mind also tends to attach emotion to pictures, which explains why the average person remembers 65% of visual information ten days later, while they can recall only 10% of something they heard ten days ago.
Furthermore, they often prove effective in education because they use images to highlight, explain, or enhance text-based information, which also encourages data retention for many learners.
In addition, these visuals can be applied for a variety of uses. They are ideal for foregrounding important events in a historical period. They help us understand how certain occurrences interconnect and influence each other and how they have affected the world.
By using infographics, number-heavy statistics can be made more interesting, and adding diagrams and short text makes them easier to process and remember.
Teachers can also use them as assignments for homework. Giving students a long text and letting them transform it into something more appealing provides them with the opportunity to be more creative and shakes up the ordinary routine.
While doing it, they also conduct research and try different applications of information. As a result, learners demonstrate critical thinking by filtering data, identifying patterns, and presenting carefully curated projects.
If it so happens that children are only taught through lectures or text, teachers are neglecting 65% of visual learners, and they miss the opportunity to increase retention rates, which are essential in the assessment strategies of schools.
Even though infographics might seem intimidating, there are plenty of tools online that can be helpful, such as Infogram, Canva, Easelly, and Edraw.
Their designers advise having an outline before starting the creative process. Try to decide which points are essential. Then, you can move on to ensuring that the readers are guided through the visuals and that the story you’re telling is coherent and has a gradual ending.
