Graphicacy: Infographics As Literacy

Graphicacy is the realization of information in a visual format. It is a literacy on par with textual, oral, and numerical skills. Graphicacy often takes a backseat in traditional classrooms, because understanding pictures is thought to be a natural consequence of basic vision. The conventional wisdom says that if people can see, then naturally they can comprehend what they see.

Parents, however, know this is untrue. They know children must learn to decode images and connect the visual parts to the cognitive whole. Mothers dedicate evenings to paging through picture books with their toddlers, pointing out clouds and jackrabbits and smiling moons. Fathers gesture at illustrations to connect colors to words, pigs to oinks, and cats to hats.

Adults know, too, that graphic interpretation is not automatic. Many times they themselves have cocked an eyebrow at a line in their Charles Schwab BAC EPS mountain graph. They've reread a GOP primary cartoon to locate the pun, or they've scanned Zimbabwe to pinpoint their safari.

Source: ASIDE

Teaching graphicacy is crucial in our schools. Infographics can offer engaging examples of graphic instruction, because they often combine data, images, symbols and lettering. Listed below are some of the resources we've found useful in approaching graphicacy in the classroom and using infographics to spur visual thinking:

• Visual Literacy in K-8
• Understanding Graphics: 10 Reasons to Use Color
• An Infographic a Day for Teachers
• Developing Visual Literacy Through Infographics
• Data Visualized in Infographics Teaching
• Getting Started Teaching with Infographics