How can designing infographics promote creativity in responding to an economic problem?
Gregory Howes & Kate Stevenson
Acting Head of English & Head of Economics
Brisbane Grammar School, Australia
Introduction
Data Collection and Analysis
Fostering creativity in education is a challenge. In the field of Economics,
creativity is valued but rarely prioritised in learning experiences (Galenson,
2010). With ubiquitous technology, there is an opportunity to foster our
students’ creativity.
Data from the pre-survey and post-survey was exported from our learning
management system to Microsoft Excel for analysis. We transcribed the
video-recordings of focus groups. Together, we reviewed all qualitative
data to search for common comments, identifying five broad themes to
code our data: Creativity and Freedom; Creativity and Challenge;
Responding to the Economic Problem; Creativity and Technology; and
Creativity as a Collaborative Endeavour. We then compared these
findings to the quantitative data from the surveys.
Our hunch
Students may improve their understanding and communication of an economic
problem by designing infographics
Why
•  We want to develop our boys’ critical and creative thinking
•  We want our boys to be problem solvers in real contexts
•  We want our boys to be effective communicators
How
•  Infographics are a creative method of visually representing information
•  Infographics follow no fixed template; their design is open-ended
•  To design a purposeful infographic, students need to understand economic
patterns and trends in depth to communicate data creatively
The Research Question
How can designing infographics promote boys’ creativity in responding to an
economic problem?
Research Context
Key Findings and Discussion
Creativity and Freedom
Students found that their sense of autonomy and the freedom to show individual expression gave rise to a
perception that they could be creative.
“The majority of our assessment tasks are based around cold, hard facts…set out in an academic
format... I think this was a whole different area that a lot of us had not explored before.”
Creativity and Challenge
A key challenge, according to the students, was to express relevant information in a creative way. This was more
difficult given the perceived uniqueness and novelty of the task.
Participants
Two classes of Year 11 Economics students (15 or 16 years old), approaching
the end of their second semester of study. In total, 49 students participated.
The Research Action
Our action targeted the design and use of infographics to research, explain and
present an environmental economic problem as part of a research assessment
task. The intervention was staged during 3 separate lessons:
•  Lesson 1: Introduce infographics; review and evaluate professional designs
•  Lesson 2: Exploration of technology to design infographics
•  Lesson 3: Peer review, feedback and reflection of individual work
Our hunch that using technology to create a visual response to an economic
problem would promote creativity held true.
Our key conclusions:
•  designing an effective, purposeful infographic is complex
•  students appreciated the freedom in the design process and the product
•  students’ understanding of creativity became more about “doing things
differently” to engage and connect with an audience
•  students found technology enabled them to be creative and respond to the
economic problem purposefully
Going forward:
•  we will continue to use and design infographics to promote creativity in
responding to economic issues
•  we need to provide more time for students to be more creative
•  we will investigate the use of technology for peer feedback and collaboration
Opportunities for future research:
•  there is little research about teaching and learning with infographics,
including aspects of visual and information literacies
•  opportunities exist to investigate different design tools and animation of
infographics
“You had to really think about what you were going to put on the infographic in terms of…causes
and effects... What information was best. [You had to think about] what is the most important part
of what I have to do, and what information can I build on and add to what I already have.”
“We’ve never seen an infographic before or created an infographic attribute in an academic
subject before. That is where people struggled.”
Brisbane Grammar School is a large metropolitan independent day and
boarding school in Australia, educating 1400 boys in Years 6 to 12. The School
is committed to a liberal education, aiming to develop boys’ critical intelligence,
imaginative and creative powers, communication skills and enthusiasm for
independent lifelong learning. Economics is a Senior subject of four semesters.
Conclusions
Responding to the Economic Problem
Designing prompted students to consider how technological affordances could help them synthesise and
represent their economic issue. They became more aware of their audience and how to engage them.
“Not only did it make us understand it, it made us analyse it better. We were able to comprehend
what was going on… For example, if it was a statistic like 1 in 5, it meant a lot more to me when I
saw one person coloured in five. It actually made me think 'Oh my gosh, that's actually quite a
lot'... [So] you had to be really selective with your facts… Sometimes you had to choose which
facts were the most easily representable on an infographic.”
Creativity and Technology
Our findings suggest that technology facilitated flexibility in thinking and freedom in expression. 67% of students
reported that their creativity using technology stayed the same or increased throughout the task.
“The technology gave me more opportunity to be creative because you can just fiddle around with
controls and the options. So if you know about those basics, you can create more complex, more
effective infographics. That's what leads you to your creativity.”
Creativity as a Collaborative Endeavour
Evidence suggests that working collaboratively enhanced the design process. Feedback gained from peers
helped students gauge how effective and engaging their creative response to the economic problem was.
“The peer reviews were a big help. I know if I did it myself, it wouldn't have been as good.”
International Boys’ Schools Coalition Action Research Program 2013
Key Readings
Clinton, G., & Hokanson, B. (2012). Creativity in the training and practice of
instructional designers: The Design/Creativity Loops model. Educational
Techology Research and Development, 60(1), 113-130.
Creswell, J. (2008). Educational Research Planning, Conducting and
Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. International Pearson Merril
Prentice Hall.
Cropley, A. (2006). Creativity: A Social Approach. Roeper Review, 28(3),
125-130.
Galenson, D. (2010). Understanding creativity. Journal of Applied Economics,
8(2), 352-362.
Smiciklas, M. (2012). The power of infographics: Using pictures to
communicate and connect with your audiences. Indianapolis, USA: Pearson
Education, Inc.
Further Information
For our full report and a copy of this poster, go to http://www.theibsc.org/.
Researchers’ emails: [email protected] and
[email protected]
Boys, Technology and Creativity