The infographic that I designed was based on an infographic I
found on The History Channel’s website. I
built my infographic to go along with a lesson I have planned for my world
history classes. The History Channel’s infographic was larger and did not go
along with the lesson I had in mind, so I condensed the information into a
smaller but still informative graphic.
The lesson that goes along with my infographic focuses on the aspects
and the level of sophistication that the city of Rome had achieved. I will be asking students to choose which of
the achievements or aspects of the city of Rome they find most interesting,
important, innovative and ultimately their favorite. Students will be asked to write a paragraph
describing which aspect they chose from the infographic as their favorite and
why it impressed them. Besides choosing
one to write about, students will also have an opportunity to view the entire
infographic and share with small groups which aspect they found most important
or impressive.
I matched the images I found on piktograph.com to represent
themes that coincide with the facts on the infographic. Each one of the achievements in Rome that I
have listed on the infographic matched up effectively with an image. My infographic utilizes icons to help convey the
information written in text, this matching helps visual learners understand the
information regarding Rome as a super-city, while being visually pleasing and
attractive. This infographic is also a
nice change of pace from reading textual accounts of information for students. Students may find it fun to learn about
something in a different way than what they are regularly exposed to. Although for my classes I will be using this
as a print off in black and white, I still believe it will be an effective
resource. Schools that have access to
iPads or color copiers may benefit more from the aesthetics in exciting their
students to learn about the information. This infographic is also effective because students
are able to see the relationship that ancient Rome had with today’s modern
cities. Examples include: running water,
central heat, baths, sewers, water fountains, sports arenas, malls, apartments,
public welfare, public works, toilets, concrete and landfills. With a large list of achievements like that,
my infographic condenses the information without losing any of it as compared
to the information being given through a power point slide, or text book
reading. It is important when teaching
history to relate information back to student’s lives, and my infographic is
designed to do exactly that.
The process of making this infographic was fun and
educational for myself. Instead of
having to read through historical documents or secondary sources, I was able to
condense the large amount of information into a brief but informative visual
aid. While making the infographic, I was
able to combine my content knowledge with the information I found online and
produce a supplemental aid that I believe will be effective in helping my
students understand the achievements of Rome.
I am a visual learner and I use a lot of maps, pictures and art when
discussing topics in world history. It
helps me to understand and retain knowledge, and it is especially important
when teaching historical topics that students understand the area in the world
that we are discussing. Using maps helps
students understand the geography of history but using pictures and art also
helps them understand the culture of the people being covered. Pictures of historical figures puts a face to
the words or information and can help students understand the information
through visualization. I also utilize
videos in my classroom which can make students more engaged when they see
history come to life. It is hard to
bring a textbook to life like a video with reenactments can. In the world that we live in today,
electronic stimuli has a huge influence on our lives, because of this, anytime
that visual aids can be used to help engage students with the information, more
of it can be retained.
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