How many pairs of Nikes® or Apple® products are in the average American home? What makes someone buy one particular type of laundry detergent over another? Scholars grapple with these questions as they develop a list of brands they use regularly and then create a digital word cloud to showcase the results.

Concepts

advertising, marketing, data analysis, data display

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Have individuals catalog some of their belongings at home in advance to facilitate creating the list
• Ask pupils to research the advertising techniques of various companies to see if there is a correlation between popular brands and their marketing strategies

Classroom Considerations

• To prepare for the lesson, create a branded example to share with the class at Wordle.net/create
  
• Requires computers, Internet access, and Microsoft PowerPoint (or a similar program)
• Some sensitivity considerations for students of families with financial/socioeconomic insecurities

Pros

• The guidelines and tips for creating a Wordle are clear and very thorough 
• Links popular culture with learning for an enjoyable, hands-on activity 

Cons

• There are no questions provided for analyzing the data