Idea for Use in the Classroom

Prior to introducing the infographic, have students brainstorm the general purpose of infographics. Emphasize infographics as a tool to visually convey information or ideas, which can be useful when studying complicated issues about historical events, situations, or processes.

Provide students with the infographic and direct volunteers to read the overview in the top left corner. Based on this information, break students into small groups to deduce how the left-side portion of the background map relates to the purpose of the infographic (the map provides the relative location of the countries involved in the Korean War). Next, prompt groups to review “The Human Cost to Koreans” section. Ask the students: How do the stick-figure symbols help communicate the purpose of this section? Then use “The Economic Cost to Koreans” section to evaluate the use of a table to compare the economic costs for North Korea and South Korea. Ask your students: In what other ways could this data have been presented? Would they have been more or less effective than a table? Turn to the final section and challenge students to explain how the layout, graphics, and text are used together to tell this aspect of the story. Ask the students: Which portion of this section is most effective at communicating information? Why?

To conclude, prompt students to discuss what the term “cost” means according to this infographic (the Korean War was expensive in human and economic terms for both sides). Students should support their claims with evidence from the infographic. As an extension, have students create an infographic focused on another conflict.