Infographics are visual representations of data. Infographics often use things like charts, graphs and maps to make data easier to understand. Visualising information helps us work out patterns and quickly identify problems.
This resource shows us how infographics have changed over time and the problems they helped to solve. Infographics are not new. The examples we will be using are John Snow's cholera map and Florence Nightingale's coxcombs. These two people helped identify ways to prevent people from getting sick in the 19th century. Find out how they did it and make your own infographic using open data sources.
Structure and features
Explore the infographics on the interactive timeline of the most iconic infographics. The focus here is on John Snow and Florence Nightingale.
John Snow
This shows the use of a map to display data. John Snow used the map to show that cholera was spread by contaminated water. The map highlights the water pump on Broad Street as the source of the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak. Ask students to look at the map and identify the pump where the greatest number of cases of cholera were found. Identifying this pump helped stop the spread of the disease in 19th-century London.
Florence Nightingale
See Florence Nightingale's diagrams.
When Florence Nightingale visualised data into these polar-area diagrams in the wars between 1890 and 1910, she discovered that many soldiers were dying from preventable infections. She revolutionised nursing practices to include something as simple as washing hands between patients. It is a powerful example of using visualised data to find and solve a problem.
Find out more about Florence Nightingale's diagrams, also called 'coxcombs'.
Making an infographic
Ask students to make their own infographic based on a data investigation they have been involved with or by using sources like the data.gov site or these open data sources.
Students can make infographics using coloured paper and pens or they could use an online tool. These infographic makers have enough options with the free versions to do this lesson:
- Canva – free, but a paid account is needed for advanced options
- Venngage – free for students
- Piktochart – free, but a paid account is needed for advanced options
- Visme – free for basic functions, and has interactive popups
- Biteable – free for basic functions, and has animated infographics.
Links and files
Teacher notes
This learning aligns with the Digital Technologies subject in the Australian Curriculum 7/8 band.
The strand is focused on data collection, management and analysis. Presenting data visually helps to achieve this intention.
