Types of Graphics

• What are the possibilities for visuals in learning?
• What types of visuals are most useful in particular subject areas?
• How can I convince teachers to use visuals in teaching and learning?

Graphics are visual representations created on paper, the computer screen and other surfaces to communicate information. Use graphics to provide an additional channel of communication for learners.

As you select materials, think graphics. For example, The Mask of Lincoln from the National Portrait Gallery shows the many ways Abraham Lincoln was been viewed.

As you build learning environments, think about the inquiry process:

• The Standard - History (Grades 3-4): Understands how regional folk heroes and other popular figures have contributed to the cultural history of the U.S. (e.g., frontiersmen, mountain men, American Indian Chiefs, and outlaws.
• Question and Explore - Examine folk heroes like Buffalo Bill. Who was Johnny Appleseed?
• Assimiliate and Infer - Consider the fact and fiction. What about the Wild West? What about Johnny Appleseed?
• Reflect and Share - Seek out modern folk heroes. Write about today's women who are heroes.

Let's explore seven types of graphics:

1. Data, charts, and graphics
2. Diagrams
3. Illustrations
4. Maps
5. Organizers
6. Images
7. Symbols

Data, Charts and Graphs

Numeric data are often represented using charts and graphs. Explore an example of social technology and data sharing at Data from Swivel, a collaborative environment for sharing and visualizing data.

Digital Resources

• General Teaching Resources
  • The Power of Data
  • Statistical Literacy
• Data Sources
  • Escrapbooking Data
  • USA Today Snapshots - Great graphics for writing and discussion
  • FedStatistics and USA.gov - search government agencies such as ATV Safety
  • FedStats Kids - links to kid's pages
  • Getting the Picture: Communicating Data Visually
    
  • ArchKIDecture
  • Historical Data Collection
  • Math-Kitecture
  • Real-time Data Projects
  • Engineering Projects
  • Population Reference Bureau
    
  • State Data Map
    
• Collaborative Projects
  • Budburst - Record climate change data
• Online Survey and Poll Builders
  • Flektor
  • Fo.reca.st
  • Poll Daddy
  • Poll Junkie
  • Snap Poll
  • Survey Monkey
  • Wufoo
  • Zizu
  • Zoho Polls
• Online Graphing Tools
  • Favorites
    • Grapher (Elementary/Middle School)
    • Create a Graph (All Grades)
  • Others
    • Activities Graphing and Mathematics (All Grades)
    • Bar Grapher
    • Circle Grapher
    • Fraction Paint
    • Graph Creator
    • Graphic Map
    • Spreadsheet and Graphing Calculator
    • Square Graphs
    • Trigonometric Graphing
• Online Graphing Tutorials
  • Feed the Pig - financial game for tweens
  • Grades PreK-1 Picture Graphs - great on SmartBoard
  • Math Web Lessons K-5
  • All Together from Pearson Learning - look for resources at your own textbook publishers.
  • Scholastic Math Mavens
  • NASA Newsbreaks (K-2) and (3-5)
    • What's a Graph (K-2) - movie

Lessons Across the Curriculum

• Elementary School
  • Apple Adjectives (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Bar Graph Investigations (Grades PreK-2)
  • Begin with Buttons (Grades PreK-2)
    
  • Collecting, Representing, and Interpreting Data Using Spreadsheets and Graphing Software (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Comparing Columns on a Bar Graph (Grades PreK-2)
  • Dealing With Data In the Elementary School (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Eat Your Veggies (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Food Court (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Graphing Plot and Character in a Novel (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Graphing Trash Material (Grades PreK-2)
    
  • How Many Steps? (Grades PreK-2)
    
  • Junior Architects (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Look at Me (Grades PreK-2)
    
  • Numbers and Me (Grades PreK-2)
    
  • Numerical and Categorical Data (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Pizza, Pizza! (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Rescue Mission Game (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Running Races (Grades 3-5)
    
  • State Population Projections (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Understanding Distance, Speed, and Time Relationships (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Water, Water (Grades 3-5)
    
  • What Do Other People Want to Be? (Grade K-2)
  • What’s in a Name? (Grades 3-5)
• Middle/High School
  • Finding our Top Speed (Grades 6-8)
    
  • information Represented Graphically (Grades Pre-8)
    
  • Interpreting Population Statistics (Grades 6-8)
    
  • All in the Family (Grades 9-12)
  • Bio-Graph: Graphing Life Events (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Cardiac Output, Rates of Change, and Accumulation (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Dirt Bike Dilemma (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Do I Have to Mow the Whole Thing? (Grades 9-12)
    
  • A Global Perspective On AIDS (Grades 6-12)
    
  • Least Squares Regression (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Mathematics as Communication
    
  • Modeling Orbital Debris Problems (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Movie Lines (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Pedal Power (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Population Pyramids and US (Grades 6-8)
    
  • Rate of Change in Linear Functions Using Interactive Graphs (Grades 6-8)
    
  • Representing Data (Grades 6-8)
    
  • Smokey Bear Takes Algebra (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Songs from the Past (Grades 5-8)
    
  • Trout Pond (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Using Graphs, Equations, and Tables to Investigate the Elimination of Medicine from the Body (Grades 9-12)
    
  • What’s a Graph (Grades 6-8)
    
  • Whelk – Come the Mathematics (Grades 9-12)

Seek out online data for your own professional development. This is a great chance to model the use of technology. Try Pew Research Center and Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Inquiry Connection: Data

• Question & Explore - Who decided how many parking spaces are set aside for people with disabilities? Will we need more with an aging society? Graph people with disabilities by age.
• Assimilate & Infer - Locate parking space data and ADA requirements. Collect data in school parking lot. Graph results. My graph shows the school has the minimum spaces required by law.
• Reflect & Share - How many people in our school have disabilities? Interview staff. Graph results at Create a Graph website.

Try It!
Explore data sources. Create your own survey. Or, try a variety for easy-to-use tools for creating graphics such as Grapher for young learners and Create a Graph for older children.

Diagrams

Diagrams are a simplified visual representation of an object, concept, or idea.

Digital Resources

• Wikimedia Commons - Diagrams
• Google Images - search by topic such as life cycle
• Google Patents
• Mathematical Quilts

Lessons Across the Curriculum

• What is Inside a Cell? (Grades 5-8)
• National Archives - many lessons on patents including Cotton Gin

Inquiry Connection: Diagram

• Question & Explore - Why it is hot in the winter and cold in the summer in Australia? Interpret a diagram showing the tilt of the earth.
• Assimilate & Infer - I notice that in the winter the sun shines in my bedroom window.
• Reflect & Share - What did ancient cultures know about the seasons? Examine diagrams of Stonehenge and create my own interpretation.

Try It!
Explore Wikimedia Commons - Diagrams and Google Images for diagrams.

Illustrations

Drawings, paintings, sketches, and etchings are examples of illustrations. These visual representations are intended to communicate an informational or artistic message.

Digital Resources

• Art
  • Art Images - organized by time period
  • Art Renewal Center - search for art
  • Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole - rather than starting with an animal. Start with a work of art. Brainstorm questions about the animal using the images as a place to start. Browse the Artwork.
  • Web Gallery of Art - many European artists
• Avatars
  • Dark Ages Characters - create dark ages characters
• Cartoons and Comics
  • Irish Political Cartoons from University of Illinois
  • Political Cartoons from Truman Library
  • Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index
• Character Generators
  • What's Your Dark Ages Character?
  • Search Google for Avatar Generator
• Clipart
  • Naturescapes Starters
  • DK Clipart - excellent for school topics
  • Earth Science Photos
  • Fish and Wildlife Photos
  • Pics4Learning - photographs
  • Discovery School - clipart
  • CalPhotos
  • FirstGov Graphics - links to government sources
  • Microsoft Clipart
  • National Archives Exhibits
  • Free Cartoon clipart - very cute, but limited
  • Awesome Clipart for Educators - lots of ads
  • Classroom Clipart - lots of ads
  • Teacher Tap: Visual Resources
  • Public Domain and Copyright-Free Sites
• Comic Software
  • Comic Life. Available for both Mac and Windows *
• Comic Creator for Kids
  • Build Your Own Comic
  • Disney's Comic Creator
  • Garfield's Comic Creator
  • Kabam! Comic Creator
  • Kiddonet
  • Make BeliefsComix
  • Make Your Own Graphix
  • Pixton
  • Scholastic's Captain Underpant
  • Pixton - Make simple comics
  • ReadWriteThink Cartoon Creator. Make a comic strip using a set of visuals
• Comic Creators for All Ages (potential for inappropriate content)
  • Bubblir!
  • Comiqs
  • Strip Generator
  • ToonDoo
  • Toonlet
• Cartoon and Caption Creators
  • PicBite - choose a picture and add a caption
  • Picture History - choose image, write about it and email
  • Picture Poetry - choose picture and write a caption
  • Captioner - choose picture and add a caption
• Posters
  • kkc creations - wikispace
  • Glogster - Itzak Stern
  • Letterpop
• Indian Ledger Art
  • Kiowa Drawings
  • Plains Indian Ledger Art
  • Plains Indian Drawings
• Posters
  • Powers of Persuasion
  • WPA Posters
• Visualizations
  • Visuallizations from NASA
  • Visualization from Wikimedia
    

Lessons Across the Curriculum

• Picturing First Families (Grades K-2)

Inquiry Connection: Illustrations

• Question & Explore - What was it like to go on a buffalo hunt? Why did they use ledger books? Read the book The Ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle and explore websites about ledger art.
• Assimilate & Infer - Draw pictures to better understand the dwellings and daily life.
• Reflect & Share - How do the images created by Indians differ from European observers?

Try It!
Explore illustrations. Try Comic Life.

Maps

A map provides a visual representation of an area showing relationships in space.

Digital Resources

• General Resources
  • Atlas Portal from Wikipedia
    
  • Cartography from Wikipedia
  • Geodata
  • National Geographic Maps
    
  • National Atlas
  • Round Earth, Flat Maps
    
  • Wikimedia Maps
  • USGS
• Topical Maps
  • Crime Mapping
  • Earth Observatory: Global Maps
  • Earth Shots
  • EnviroMapper
  • Finishing Our Place In the World
  • National Highway System
    
  • Tapestry of Time and Terrain
• Historical Maps
  • Geography and Maps from the Library of Congress
  • Historical maps and surveys
  • Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
• Mapping Tools and Interactives
  • Google Earth - must be installed on hard drive
    
  • Google Maps
    
  • Map Machine from National Geographic
  • Mapping Our World
  • Naming the West
    
  • US Neutrality – Europe/Asia
  • Xpeditions from National Geographic
• News
  • Maps Blog
    

Lessons Across the Curriculum

• Elementary School
  • Caribou Migration (Grades K-2)
    
  • Handy Map (Grades PreK -2)
    
  • Human Migration: The Story of a Community's Culture (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Mapmaking Guide Grades 3-5 (PDF)
  • Mapping Change (Grades 4-8)
    
  • Mapping Our Worlds (Grades K-2)
  • Mapping Your State’s Culture (Grades 3-5)
  • Over the River and Through the Woods (Grades K-2)
    
  • Make State Maps with Mapmachine (Grade 3-5)
    
• Middle/High School
  • Explorer’s Experience (Grades 5-8)
    
  • Genographic: Mapping the Human Journey (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Latitude, Longitude and Mapmaking (Grades 6-8)
    
  • Life on the Great Plains (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Japan's “Southern Advance” and the March toward War, 1940-1941
    
  • Mapmaking Guide Grades 6-8 (PDF)
  • Mapping Colonial New England: Looking at the Landscape of New England (Grades 9-12)
  • Mapping the Past (Grades 6-8)
  • The Path of the Black Death (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Sprawl: The National and Local Situation (Grades 9-12)
  • Trekking to Timbuktu—Student Version (Grades 6-8)
    
  • Which Way Did They Go? (Grades 6-8)

Inquiry Connection: Maps

• Question & Explore - Hummingbirds migrate. What other creatures migrate? Why?
• Assimilate & Infer - Tarantulas are all over the world. They move around but don't migrate.
• Reflect & Share - What's the difference between migration and invasion? Why do some thrive and some die? Fire ants have invaded Missouri!

Try It!
Explore Google Maps.

Organizers

Organizers are effective for showing relationships among data, connections like cause and effect, chronologies of events, and comparisons such as the pros and cons of alternative solutions.

Digital Resources

• Organizer Tools and Interactives from ReadWriteThink
  • Animal Inquiry
  • BioCube
  • Character Trading Cards
    
  • Circle Plot Diagram
    
  • Compare and Contrast Map
    
  • Drama Map
    
  • Essay Map
    
  • Graphic Map
  • KWL Organizer
  • Literary Elements Map
  • MysteryCube
    
  • Plot Diagram
    
  • ReadWriteThink Webbing Tool
    
  • Story Map
    
  • Timeline
    
  • Venn Diagram (2 Circles)
    
  • Venn Diagram (3 Circles)

Lessons Across the Curriculum

• K-12
  • Circle Plot Diagram Lessons
  • Compare & Contrast Map Lessons
  • Drama Map Lessons
  • Essay Map Lessons
  • Eye on Idioms Interactive and Lessons
  • Graphic Map Lessons
  • Literary Elements Map Lessons
  • Plot Diagram Lessons
  • Webbing Tool Lessons
  • Story Map Lessons
  • Timeline Lessons
    
  • Venn Diagram (2 Circles) Lessons
    
  • Venn Diagram (3 Circles) Lessons
    
• Elementary School
  • Antarctic Food Chain (Grades K-2)
  • Building a Matrix for Leo Lionni Books: An Author Study (Grades K-2)
  • Can We Keep the Lake Clean? (Grades K-2)
    
  • Charting Characters for a More Complete Understanding of the Story (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Charting Countries of the World (Grades 3-5)
  • Completing the Circle: The Craft of Circular Plot Structure (Grades K-2)
  • Combining Read-Alouds With Economics in the Primary Grades (Grades K-2)
  • Comparing Tales through Performance (Grades K-4)
  • Diagram It! Identifying, Comparing, and Writing About Nonfiction Texts (Grades K-2)
  • Exploring Cause and Effect Using Expository Texts About Natural Disasters (Grades 3-5)
  • Exploring Compare and Contrast Structure in Expository Texts (Grades 3-5)
  • Family Message Journals Teach Many Purposes for Writing (Grades K-2)
    
  • Get the Reel Scoop: Comparing Books to Movies (Grades 3-5)
  • Guided Comprehension: Visualizing Using the Sketch-to-Stretch Strategy (Grades 3-5)
    
  • High Temperature (Grades 3-5)
    
  • How Do Leopard Seals Hunt? (Grades 3-5)
    
  • How much is that doggy? (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Introducing the Venn Diagram in the Kindergarten Classroom (Grades K-2)
  • Jelly Belly Jam (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Let’s Build a Snowman (Grades K-2)
    
  • Many Sets of Buttons (Grade PreK-2)
    
  • Mapping Characters Across Book Series (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Native Americans Today (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Once Upon a Time Rethought: Writing Fractured Fairy Tales (Grades 3-5)
  • Powerful Patterns (Grades K-12)
  • Ramp Builder (Grades K-2)
    
  • Reading and Writing About Pollution to Understand Cause and Effect (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Scratch Dance (Grades K-4)
  • Splish, Spash: Water’s Journey to My Glass (Grades K-2)
    
  • Sizing Up (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Sorting Time: Powerful Patterns (Grades PreK-2)
    
  • Street Games (Grade K-4)
    
  • The Sun and the Earth (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Unwinding A Circular Plot: Prediction Strategies in Reading and Writing (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Using Writing and Role-Play to Engage the Reluctant Writer (Grades 3-5)
    
  • Water and Ice (Grades K-2)
• Middle/High School
  • Allegory in Painting (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Analyzing and Comparing Medieval and Modern Ballads (Grades 9-12)
  • Are the von Trapps Historically Correct? (Grades 5-8)
  • A Way with Words or Say What? (Grades 5-8)
    
  • Biography Project: Research and Class Presentation (Grades 6-8)
    
  • Biomagnification in the Great Lakes Ecosystems (Grades 9-12)
  • Capturing History (Grades 5-8)
  • Castles & Cornerstones (Grades 5-8)
  • The Correspondence Project: A Lesson of Letters (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Classifying Numbers: The Product Game (Grades 6-8)
  • Contaminants in the Water Cycle (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Cultural Creation Myths (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Creative Communication Frames: Discovering Similarities between Writing and Art (Grades 6-8)
    
  • Crocs, Then and Now (Grades 6-8)
    
  • Delving into the Grand Canyon (Grades 6-8)
  • Don't Freeze the Engine (Grades 9-12)
  • Explorations with Chance (Grades 9-12)
  • Exploring Change through Allegory and Poetry (Grade 6-8)
    
  • Exploring Cross-Age Tutoring Activities With Lewis and Clark (Grades 9-12)
  • Guantanamera: A Poem and a Song (Grades 9-12)
  • Happily Ever After? Exploring Character, Conflict, and Plot in Dramatic Tragedy (Grades 9-12)
    
  • He Said/She Said: Analyzing Gender Roles through Dialogue (Grades 6-8)
    
  • Heroes Are Made of This: Studying the Character of Heroes (Grades 9-12)
  • I've Got the Literacy Blues (Grades 9-12)
  • Leopard Seals and Penguins: A Delicate Balance (Grades 6-8)
  • The Life of Maria von Trapp: Creating a Conclusion (Grades 5-8)
  • Magazine Redux: An Exercise in Critical Literacy (Grades 9-12)
  • Neighborly Interests (Grades 6-12)
  • Plot Structure: A Literary Elements Mini-Lesson (Grades 6-8)
  • Scaffolding Comprehension Strategies Using Graphic Organizers (Grades 6-8)
    
  • Shaping the View: Composition Basics (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Sky and Artist (Grades 5-8)
    
  • Sky Watching (Grades 6-8)
  • Teaching Plot Structure through Short Stories (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Teaching the Epic through Ghost Stories (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Using Venn Diagrams to Compare Two Ecosystems (Grades 6-8)
    
  • Utopian Visions (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Venn Diagrams and Logic (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Vivaldi, The Composer (Grades 5-8)
    
  • Water, Water, Everywhere (Grades 9-12)
    
  • Weeping Camel: How Do Rituals Compare? (Grades 6-8)

Inquiry Connection: Organizers

• Question & Explore - How can cars by classified? How will my car tree help me understand taxonomy?
• Assimilate & Infer -We’re using the “What Tree Is It”? database to identify and organize the trees in our community.
• Reflect & Share - How will a classification system help me create a world for the Aliens Attack game I want to create?

Try It!
Explore ReadWriteThink organizers.

Images

Digital imaging is the process of creating images from physical objects.

Digital Resources

• National Archives Photo Collections
  • A People at War
  • Picture of the Revolutionary War
    
  • World War II Photos
• Library of Congress Photo Collections
  • By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies
    
  • Civil War Photos
    
  • Documenting America: The Great Depression
    
  • Veteran’s History Project
    
• Resource
  • American Masters—Through the Lens of Robert Capa
    
  • American Photography: A Century of Images
    
  • Art in the Twenty-first Century
    
  • Earth Observatory from NASA
    
  • GRIN from NASA
    
  • Marion Anderson Collection
    
  • Metaphorical Gold: Mining the Gold Rush for Stories
  • Photojournalism Guide Grades K-2 (PDF)
    
  • Photojournalism Guide Grades 3-5 (PDF)
    
  • Photojournalism Guide Grades 6-8 (PDF)
    
  • Photojournalism Guide Guides 9-12 (PDF)
    
  • Understanding Historical Photos
    
  • Watch Your Thoughts! Diagnostic Imaging and the Brain
    
  • What Can We Learn From Satellite Images?
    

Lessons Across the Curriculum

• General
  • Documentary Photography Part I
    
  • Every Picture Tells a Story: Static Images
  • Images at War
  • The Language of Photography
    
  • Life, In Focus
  • On the Oregon Trail
  • Rondal Partridge, NYA Photographer
  • Tell a Migration Story… With Photos (Grades K-12)
  • Your Changing Town (Grades K-2)
• Elementary School
  • Be a Geography Detective (Grades 3-5)
  • Jimmy Chin's Adventure in Extreme Photography (Grades 3-5)
  • Insect Models (Grades K-2)
  • Not 'Indians,' Many Tribes: Native American Diversity (Grades 3-5)
  • Picture This (Grades K-4)
  • Taking Photos of Curious George: Exploring Character Through Images
• Middle/High School
  • Blog About Courage Using Photos (Grades 9-12)
  • Reader Response in Hypertext: Making Personal Connections to Literature (Grades 9-12)
  • Rummaging for Fiction: Using Found Photographs and Notes to Spark Story Ideas  (Grades 9-12)
  • What Does a Picture Tell You About Culture? (Grades 6-8)
    
  • Worth a Thousand Words: Depression-Era Photographs (Grades 9-12)

Inquiry Connection: Images

• Question & Explore - What was life like in the Klondike of the 1890s? Read Jason's Gold and The Call of the Wild.
• Assimilate & Infer - Which images best represent these settings? Use Google Earth and compare to historical photos.
• Reflect & Share - What location will I use for my movie? Select photos.
  

Try It!
Explore image collections.

Symbols

Semiotics is the science of signs and symbols. Symbols are visuals used to represent ideas, concepts, or other abstractions.

Digital Resources

• AIGA Standard Symbols
• List of Symbols from Wikipedia
• Symbols.com
• Symbols from Wikipedia

Lessons Across the Curriculum

• Lesson Plans
• Egyptian Symbols and Figures: Scroll Paintings (Grade K-2)
  
• Oh, Say, Can You See What the Star-Spangled Banner Means? (Grades 3-5)
• Writing Poetry with Rebus and Rhyme

Inquiry Connection: Symbols

• Question & Explore - Why does my school prohibit political symbols?
• Assimilate & Infer - The peace sign is based on the flag signal representing Nuclear Disarmament.
• Reflect & Share - I’m going to make my own peace symbol. I created music to go with my presentation.

 

Try It!
Explore symbols.

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For a more in-depth exploration, read the graphic book Graphic Inquiry by Annette Lamb and Danny Callison available from Libraries Unlimited, 2010.