Info--What?

Infographic or information graphic is a single visual presentation of ideas, knowledge or data.  Infographics really have been a part of our lives since the days of painting on cave walls.  With the advent of multiple and varied graphic applications the possibilities have very nearly become endless to create a visual with a definite WOW factor.

Learning Network of the New York Times  is a blog for educators that dedicated a week this past August to infographics and how to best use them in a classroom setting.  This blog has additional links relative to all aspects of education that look to be highly useful.

If you decide to use infographics as a means to assess a lesson or to fulfill a research requirement the following two web posts are recommended.
At the San Fran Beat blog, Randy Krum has an article,  10 Tips for designing infographics, that gives an educator a clear template for guiding students in generating their own graphic representation.
Daniels Mekss' article, Visualize Everything: 32 Free Tools to Create Different Diagrams is a comprehensive list of online applications that can be used to create charts, graphs and infographics.

To get an idea of the potential use of infographics view the following web sites which showcase the best of the best.

At  Cool Infographics blog author, Randy Krum, seeks and gathers the finest examples from magazines, newspapers and the Internet. 

It was at his site that mention was made of the contest for students at Kids.gov inviting them to create an infographic titled How Do I Become President?  The deadline is November 3, 2010.

27+ Beautiful Examples of Infographics is just what it says as is 40 Useful and Creative Infographics.

Have fun and pass it on to your students.