Interpreting visual information in texts
Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively in informational texts (e.g., charts, graphs, diagrams, timelines, animations) and explain how it contributes to understanding the text
What a learner can do afterwards
- Read and interpret data from a chart, graph, or table included in an informational text and explain how it supports or extends the written information
- Explain how a diagram, map, or timeline in an informational text helps the reader understand the topic in ways that words alone might not
- Synthesise information from both the written text and a visual element (graph, illustration, infographic) to draw a conclusion that neither source provides independently
The lesson
Informational texts often pair words with a chart, graph, diagram, map, or timeline. These visuals are never just extra pictures. Each one adds something the words alone cannot show as clearly, like exact numbers, a shape, or the order of events over time.
An article about a town's history says the population 'grew slowly at first, then much faster.' A timeline under the paragraph marks 1900, 1950, and 2000. Reading the words and the timeline together, you can tell growth sped up sometime after 1950, a detail neither one tells you completely on its own.
When you meet a chart, diagram, map, or timeline next to a text, stop and ask yourself: what does this show me that the words don't already say? That question helps you find the extra meaning the visual adds.
Charts, diagrams, maps, and timelines add details you only catch by reading the words and the visual together.
Watch it
Where it sits
This opens up
Nothing builds on it yet.
Where this leads
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.