This year I had the kids working math out on white boards. I had instructions on the board for them and got on them a little bit for not starting work once they sat down. Sets the expectations, and year, off right.

You and Nick may also be interested in Hans Rosling’s work found here:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html

His tools are available under Google code I believe. You may have to hunt and peck a bit to find them.

Not sure if you’re aware of the ManyEyes alphaworks project at IBM. Here’s the link;

http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/home

As an aside, I am just blown away by this blog and the video series. Very impressive and heartening for those of us looking to push teaching into the 21st century.

What do you edit your videos with for the split screen effects and so on?

Curious if you think that exploring the creation of “infographs” that demand rigorous design sophistication is appropriate for middle school and/or high school students, or would you rather they become agile at the ‘data’ or ‘design’ sides at this stage of their academic/intellectual/creative life? Is there a certain degree of abstract conceptualization that requires more time on the planet to articulate a life or process or organization or network in this manner?

Or do you sense that “infographs” (of the type you design) are a opportunity-filled gateway project for younger students (long before they attend higher level design programs) to push hard on a) what data is and b) why it matters to us as ‘narrative’ creatures? Do you believe such processes of design/story-telling/data-collection should be explored more directly at the MS/HS academic level?

Note: I ask this as a 9-12 teacher who has taught both writing/lit and design/architecture…as well as a fan of what you do (as well as what kids can do) and what Dan continues to do with the Feltron project model.

Cheers in advance — Christian

But for the record, is it Felton or Feltron?