Biology (one of my teachable subjects) is a highly visual science. Posters and brochures are commons tools that can be used in biology class. I have used Canva quite a bit in the past due to my interests in scrapbooking, photo collaging, and digital design.
General guidelines for making Canva Designs:
- Message – Decide what message you are trying to get across, and ensure your design aligns with that message
- Font choice – the font you choose can affect the tone of your message. Make sure it’s the tone you are hoping for!
- Hierarchy – Decide which information is the most important, and make it stand out. Don’t clutter your design with words! Less is more.
- Colour – If using coloured photos, ensure the photo colours are complimentary to the colour theme you have selected
- Breathing room – This is especially important for brochures, but generally speaking, give your text some breathing room so as not to overwhelm the reader.
- Tip: Choose a template after you’ve establish the content, rather than trying to fit your content into a template.
Here is the poster I made for free using Canva:
I decided to put my screen-cast and iMovie powers to use and created a video of my process following this tutorial to make a brochure:
Below is a photo I created using Canva in the last part of the tutorial:
Canva pro is free for educators in Victoria when you sign up using your district email. This makes it an excellent resource for us to learn more about! The options are endless using the free version, so it’s a great tool for students to use as well. After doing this tutorial, I’d be comfortable teaching students the basics of using Canva so that they can use this platform to make brochures or posters in biology class. This is an assignment I think would be particularly engaging for students. By making a brochure students will be encouraged to pull out the most important information, and relay that information in a way that is accessible for everyone, which is a great exercise.