Communicate

• 4.1. Selecting a communication medium
• 4.2. Sharing results
  • Photo analysis and poster
  • Graphs
  • Maps
  • 3D images
  • Video

• 4.1. Selecting a communication medium

After gathering and processing information about the topic they have chosen, students must select a communication medium in order to share the results of their research. They have many options:

The possibilities and combinations are endless!

• 4.2. Sharing results
  

- Photo analysis and poster

Students often do not employ visual elements to best effect when presenting the results of their intellectual endeavours. Instead, images are usually used as decorative elements.

However, visual elements can be used to back up students’ arguments. For example, students could enlarge part of a photo or juxtapose two images to support their reasoning.

Students can then summarize what they have learned on a poster. The poster they create should help solve or understand a problem, explain the evolution of a social reality and/or illustrate social change, as in the example below.

Source: www.hydroquebec.com/learning/histoire/index.html

 

Images can be juxtaposed in such a way that the person looking at them can rapidly understand and identify the people involved in a major event in Québec history.

To view how this poster was made using a Word Process, click:  1) Word Document Version  2) Open Office Version

- Graphs

Graphs can be used to give life to statistics and enable the person who is looking at them to understand a situation at a glance.

At a methodological level, History and Geography use statistical tools such as pie charts and histograms. With computers, these types of graphs are easy to create and can greatly facilitate students’ comprehension. All the examples below were created using a spreadsheet* application.

Histogram:
Histograms are used to represent frequency data for comparison purposes or to show the evolution of a phenomenon.

Source: CNDP: Métropole en mutations and Wikipedia Graph produced by LEARN using Create a Graph From LEARN-RECITUS page collection on Metropolises here.

Pie chart:
Pie charts are circle graphs used for comparing the parts of the whole to the whole

Languages (Mother tongue) in Anjou 2001

Source: Ville de Montréal:
http://anjou.ville.montreal.qc.ca/a02-fr/pdf/Anjou0803.pdf

Statistical tools can help the person who is looking at them grasp a given phenomenon or situation more rapidly. The following example shows various ways in which such tools can be used to communicate results. Each of these tools offers a better understanding of a phenomenon or situation

Democracy in Ancient Athens A student wants to demonstrate that democracy in Ancient Athens had several weaknesses, especially with regards to representation. She has found demographic data for Ancient Athens in the year 500 BCE. 1) Raw data: Population of Ancient Athens (500 BCE) Citizens: 40,000 people Wives of citizens: 40,000 people Children: 110,000 people Foreigners: 70,000 people Slaves: 140,000 people Total population: 400,000 people 2) Data in a table created using a word processor: 3) ) Data in a graph created using a spreadsheet (Open Office): 4) Données dans un graphique à l'aide du traitement de l'image * : Source (for image of Greece citizen) : http://www.picto.qc.ca 5) Data presented in a slide show (Powerpoint) 6) Data presented using a multimedia software program (Flash) Source : Image du citoyen grec : http://www.picto.qc.ca

- Maps

Maps provide a spatial representation of a phenomenon. They are excellent analysis tools and can also be used as a means of communication. They allow students to contextualize their topic in space and/or support their hypothesis.

Vector graphics editors* can be used to create schematic maps very easily.

Click here to find out more about schematic maps.

 

Several online maps and map creation sites can also be very helpful:

• Online Map Creation: www.aquarius.ifm-geomar.de
• Planiglobe: http://www.planiglobe.com
• Pilat Informative Educative: http://pilat.free.fr/english/index.htm
• The World of Maps: http://www.maps.ethz.ch/map_catalogue.html

For example, the following is a map created using Pilat Informative Educative (http://pilat.free.fr):

 

Map saved in an image format compatible with XnView, a free image viewer that can capture screen shots:

Students can use the same base map to highlight various aspects of a population from a temporal or thematic perspective (e.g., areas occupied by Aboriginal groups, areas of population growth, the evolution of farmland, human effects on the environment, etc.).

- 3D images

Students can use 3D computer graphics software* to create a virtual representation of reality. They can model their mental images and contextualize physical realities. 3D computer models are virtual equivalents of physical 3D models.

The example below represents the St. Lawrence lowlands. This image was created using the vector graphics editor OpenOffice Draw:

- Video

Digital recording cameras can now be easily used by students to record visual information about their environment, the cities and the people around them, evidence of time passing and of time passed.  In History class cameras can record a trip to a historic site, or students re-enacting an event.  In Geography class a landscape can be interpreted through this new and active lens.

With the same software, with programs like iMovie (Macintosh) and Windows Movie Maker, students can also create "visual podcasts", basically a series of still images with a voice-over, that play like a normal movie file on a computer and some televisions.

Tutorials for iMovie and for Windows Movie Maker abound on the Internet, as do instructions on how to use various video creation software which often comes included with digital video cameras.  Several links are available at the bottom of this LEARN Video Visions Workshop page.

Examples to coming soon.....

 

Review

At any time, students may wish to critically reassess what they have done so far, evaluate the quality of their work, compare what they have learned with what they already knew, and imagine new solutions to the problems are encountering.

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