Math, Infographics, and Graphs

 Most standards are already out of date by the time they are printed.  In fact, we have new ways of communicating information that are not taken into account by standards.  I love reading infographics because they condense information into easy to understand graphical representation.

The great thing is that infographics can be used to teach math while showing real world statistics.  Furthermore, infographics provide students with immediate understanding of certain topics.

One way to use infographics are to have students start with a graph.  It might be a graph on last 50 years and what happens with poverty rates, football statistics for the NFL, divorce rates, or the number of people traveling over Thanksgiving.  Once they have the graph, they might look into what causes the rate to go down or up.  This requires a bit of research possibly  but once the student has determined the reasons for a fall or increase, they are ready to create the infographic that will provide a story to accompany the graph.

Another way is to find two different graphs that are marked in the same unit and graph them on the same coordinate plane.  Once this is done, the student can compare and contrast the two graphs before looking for positive correlation, negative correlation, or there might be no correlation.  It is important to remind students that correlation does not necessarily imply causation.  This site puts two totally different graphs together to show correlation but also takes time to discuss how correlation can imply causation.

Or you could have students investigate how the interval and scale change the way we look at the graph.  For instance, a graph showing unemployment might change the time scale to every month instead of every six months to see how it changes the overall graph.  Another way to look at that same graph is to change the y axis so its every five instead of every one running only from 55 to 60 percent.

What about taking the cost of attending colleges from colleges the students are interested in and creating their own graphs comparing tuition, fees, etc to see how much they would owe after 4 years. The next step would be to present this same information in an infographic.  I know some colleges do not charge Native American students tuition while others do.

Another possible thing would be to have students look at the historical trend of something such as the Alaskan Permanent Fund Dividend and comparing it with the price of oil to see if there is a relationship.  Take this a step further by predicting what might happen to the check over the next few years based on what they conclude has happened so far.

Let students choose a topic, research it before creating a graph on that topic before creating an infographic to accompany it.  It might be something such as the cost of cars over the past years, or the  drop in value from new to 10 years old for a variety of models to see which has a history of the best resale.

There are so many possible topics.  One place to find wonderful graphs to use in some of these exercises is at the New York Times complete with ideas, graphs, and lesson plans.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.