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How to prepare an effective tri-fold display for a science fair, geography club etc


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My kids were involved in several research  projects  this year (from FLL to geography) that culminated with an oral presentation using a tri-fold display or poster.  While their displays were very colorful (packed with information, charts and pictures), I felt that neither kid used a well defined process for deciding what should go on the display board and what shouldn't, nor give any thought to the "user experience" (if you can call it that) that people who would be just walking around the display room and spend a few quick seconds glancing over each display board  would have.

 

I'm guessing that a well designed display of research should be self-explanatory and easy to grasp for people who have had no experience/contact with the research in question.  Those people should be able to quickly look at the display board and be able to get a basic understanding of what the student researched, his findings and why is this important/why does it matter.

 

I realized that my kids don't have the skills for doing this, and come to think of it, I don't either, so I don't know how to teach it to them.

 

I also realized that this is a very important skill to have, not just for science fairs and presentation clubs, but in general for being able to clearly communicate not just orally, but visually with anybody for any purpose.  I can see the benefits that this could have in so many different settings.  A teacher in a co-op setting should have these skills, a business person conducting a meeting with his clients etc.

 

i would like to be purposefully focusing on this skill next year with my children as we homeschool.  I've checked out "The non-designer's design book" from the library which should give us some basics on design and visual layout in general, but browsing through the chapters I noticed there is not a single example of designing a tri-fold display in the entire book, so I personally might have trouble taking the general knowledge that I learn from it and helping the children apply it to our specific problem of learning how to communicate effectively through a tri-fold board.

 

Not to mention, that the layout is only part of the skill that I want them to have.  I also need to teach them "content strategy" (or however we call the skill for knowing exactly what information should go on the display and what should be just saved for oral explanation or skipped all together) and of course both layout and content are closely tied to "user experience" and how to make that maximally positive and effective for a person who is completely unaware of what the display should be about before taking a look at it, how to grab his attention and help convey to him exactly what we want him to grasp from all of our information. 

 

I hope I'm making sense so far.  It seems that a great deal is spent on these "skills" or "topics" when it comes to web design, but I need books that will teach these skills in a way that is applicable to tri-fold boards or posters and of course geared towards students, not professionals.

 

What books/curriculums would you guys recommend (middle school or high school level is fine) or a book for me so that i can learn it myself and teach it to them?

 

And also, am I the only one that feels like this is lacking in homeschool curricula?  Is anyone else deliberate  about teaching these skills to children who do not plan to have careers in art or design?

 

 

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 Is anyone else deliberate  about teaching these skills to children who do not plan to have careers in art or design?

 

I wasn't before, but I will be now.  I took a graphic design class in college (an English Education major with a minor in journalism) and it was very worthwhile.  I had decided that my dc would probably learn Powerpoint or something similar, I hadn't really thought about specifically passing this design knowledge to them. 

 

Thanks for the idea.   :)

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My kids made a science poster this year for the first time ever.  They really enjoyed it lol!  I guided them on what information should be on the poster from their notes, and also helped with the visual aspect.  They did everything on paper, then glued it to the board, so we could move all the parts around to see it visually.  We knew certain things had to be center or top, and the rest we played with until it looked 'right'.  Both kids did well.  

 

DS is taking an Office Applications class next year to learn to use all the office suite products and create presentations within each.  If it goes well, dd will take it in 8th as well.  I hope that will help them to learn to use power point and spreadsheets.  

 

 

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