Education graphics, or edugraphics, are graphic visual representations of educational information intended to simplify social-cultural content, communication-related content,

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

content, etc. The use of rich visual content improves

cognition Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

, as the students comprehension is enhanced when both visual and text-based cues are combined. Edugraphics have existed since learning manuals began to be used in elementary schools, high schools and universities. These edugraphics, known by the term

infographic Infographics (a clipped compound of "information" and " graphics") are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly.Doug Newsom and Jim Haynes (2004). ''Public Relations Wr ...

s or "information graphics", are used to explain different subjects (geography, history, science, biology...). They were used to illustrate some aspect of the lesson (map of invasions, timelines, internal organs, etc.), and they were drawn or made by computer graphics.

Origin

The term "edugraphic" is born from its cousin "

" which is relatively recent and the result of considerable debate in the design community. The

Society for Technical Communication The Society for Technical Communication (STC) is a professional association dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practice of technical communication with more than 4,500 members in the United States, Canada, and the world. The society pu ...

group describes infographics as "the translation of complex, unorganized or

unstructured data Unstructured data (or unstructured information) is information that either does not have a pre-defined data model or is not organized in a pre-defined manner. Unstructured information is typically text-heavy, but may contain data such as dates, num ...

into valuable, meaningful information".

Comenius John Amos Comenius (; cs, Jan Amos Komenský; pl, Jan Amos Komeński; german: Johann Amos Comenius; Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considere ...

used a visual education with the publication of ''

Orbis Pictus ''Orbis Pictus'', or ''Orbis Sensualium Pictus'' (''Visible World in Pictures''), is a textbook for children written by Czech educator John Amos Comenius and published in 1658. It was the first widely used children's textbook with pictures, ...

'' in 1658. Infographics made significant developments thanks to the journalistic use old newspapers nowadays infographics are now being used in several media and they serve to condense large amounts of information gathered from data banks that are nowadays easily found on the internet. The First International Conference on Graphics Education was held in Alvor, Algarve,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

1993 with the name Edugraphics.

References

{{Reflist Learning methods Visualization (graphics) Infographics