PJ and Jamie Creek use infographics to teach history – St. Louis Public Radio

This interview will be on “St. Louis on the Air” over the noon hour Wednesday. This story will be updated after the show. You can listen live.
When PJ and Jamie Creek started making posters and infographics, they didn’t have any grand plan. Both natives of Belleville, Illinois, they were high school sweethearts who got married and then each left other jobs to teach junior high school social studies. It didn’t take long to begin putting PJ’s art skills to work for their students.
“We started making stuff for our own classrooms,” explains Jamie Creek. “And we thought, ‘People might buy this.’”
Buy it they did. The pair’s “Periodic Table of the Presidents,” which displays key facts about America’s commanders in chief à la the chemical elements, was a runaway hit, with tens of thousands of copies sold. Other graphics followed, and then, last December, they released their debut book, “We the People and the President: An Infographic Look at the American Presidency.”
On Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air, PJ and Jamie Creek will discuss their book, the art of teaching junior high school students and their in-home focus group: children Noah, Everett and Charlotte.
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“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by Sarah Fenske and produced by Emily Woodbury, Kayla Drake, Danny Wicentowski and Alex Heuer. Jane Mather-Glass is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
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