For the love of books: history in infographics
So I’ve mentioned in my love for picture books in both of my previous ‘For the love of books’ blogs. And this week is no different. In fact, I want to take it to a whole new level with some non-fiction this time. Something I discovered about 6 years ago were infographics books. I’d not used them much before, but now that I have discovered them I won’t be looking back. In particular, I’m going to focus on a range by Jon Richards and Jonathan Vipond called ‘history in infographics’. Obviously I am writing from a teacher’s point of view, so the three that I have myself are The Stone Age, The Vikings and The Mayans as they are topics that I have taught more recently and wanted books to use during lessons. There are others in the range such as First World War and Ancient Egyptians. I’ve also recently discovered that Jon Richards has not just focussed on history, but there is a range called ‘science in infographics’ and also ‘the world in infographics’ which I would love to get hold of too.
history in infographics by Jon Richards and Jonathan Vipond
So what are infographics?
Essentially, infographics are groups of images, icons and graphics that have been put together to represent information in a fantastically visual way. In this case, Jon Richards and Jonathan Vipond have taken specific time periods in history to focus on, and used relevant symbols to represent different aspects of these periods. The images are bright and vibrant, and quite simply, children love them.
As a visual aid for understanding what things are, they are great. They make key aspects of time periods more memorable and retainable because the information is being linked to a visual representation, which is a really significant topic within education at the moment – the idea of knowing more and remembering more. They also set out some really challenging historical concepts in a more manageable way for children to digest and understand, and the ability to refer to images alongside some really technical vocabulary is great. Within the infographics there are symbols, images, maps, shapes and blocks to form different pictorial diagrams such as timelines, and a range of colours that make each section of the book unique and easily identifiable. There is text alongside these infographics, both in the form of prose and annotations, but the text is included in a way that doesn’t dominate and adds to the value of the books in combination with the images and symbols. Simply put, if you are teaching a topic and can get hold of an infographic book, it is a great way of getting children hooked in and learning some key ideas really simply and easily. These books have also been great for my own subject knowledge, particularly when looking at key dates on timelines.
How are the books structured?
Something I love about this range of books is the way the information is organised from page to page. They all start with a contents page and a brief explanation of what an infographics book is (linking directly to snippets of information that will be included in the book). From this point on, each aspect or area of the history topic is put onto its own double page spread, meaning that if the children want to learn about tools in the Stone Age, its all on one page, and the same if they want to learn about Viking beliefs – all on one double page. This means that if you are teaching a lesson focussed specifically on one area, its simple and easy to show the children exactly the information they need in a really visual way.
The first double page is a timeline. It puts periods of time into really visual blocks, it gives key dates and children are able to easily compare when different parts of the time period began and ended. I cannot tell you enough how excited I was when I saw this page. As a bit of a history enthusiast, chronology is so important, and developing that chronological understanding within children’s minds can be challenging at the best of times, especially further down in primary schools where four digit numbers may not have been addressed fully yet. What I love about the Stone Age timeline is that it puts into perspective the difference in length of the three key periods within it – the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic. Introducing these terms in such a visual way makes them so much more meaningful and understandable for the children. And this is so important!
Image showing an infographic timeline of the Stone Age from ‘history in infographics - The Stone Age’
The books cover different aspects of the time periods as they go through, looking at food, culture, housing, but also addressing specifics for the individual topics. For example, whether the Vikings were just raiders, or whether they were also traders. This is another aspect that I love, where the books begin to bring really visual maps into proceedings. Keeping with this example, the distance that the Vikings actually travelled and explored is brought to life and the reasons for that travel so much more than just for the purposes of raiding and plundering.
Image showing an infographic map of Viking exploration from ‘history in infographics - The Vikings’
There is also a really interesting use of maps in combination with timelines. Colour coding is used in the Stone Age book, showing different colours for different points when the Bronze Age began in different places across parts of Europe. It’s experiencing things like this which give children the ability to begin to understand how history works, and to further understand the key concept and fact that the time periods we study with them didn’t simply run consecutively one after the other. They need to understand that there were parallels and overlaps and that in fact, that is what makes history really interesting. It creates questions for the children to ask without them even realising For example, in this case, why is it that the Bronze Age began in the Middle East around 5000 BCE, whilst it didn’t begin in Britain until around 1900 BCE? As with most learning in schools, developing the children’s ability to ask perceptive questions is paramount in terms of developing life-long learners. Books like this really support this aim, and open up possibilities for all children.
Its not just stand-alone history!
As I suggested previously, these books don’t just speak about history. They make all sorts of links. I’ve already talked about the links with geography, and I cannot stress how happy it makes me feel to see history and geography linked so well – I really don’t think you can teach one completely without the other. An example of this would be teaching about the Ancient Greeks. We have to know where Greece and the Ancient Greek city-states were in relation to us in order to understand the similarities and differences across our cultures.
Within the wonderful imagery there are links to animals in the Stone Age, comparing sizes to today’s equivalent creatures. There are links to sport in The Mayans and when addressing the unexpected disappearance of many Mayan cities it discusses deforestation, overpopulation and the effects of water scarcity. The Vikings has information about travel, exploration and trade. And all of this is explored in a brilliant, visual manner, which the children I’ve taught all absolutely love.
To sum up, I really love this range of infographic books. There are so many of them out there and they are not difficult to find. As a resource for subject knowledge, and as a lesson resource for children to use, they are inspiring, engaging and filled with really useful information that is accessible and easy to refer to. If you haven’t used one before, I’d definitely recommend having a look.