Makela, Lee A. (1998). Visual Literacy Exercise. Available online at: http://www.csuohio.edu/history/exercise/vlehome.html
Hi, I uncovered an interesting website today that involved an exercise for the viewer. The site asked you to view 15 Japanese prints (pictures). After viewing the pictures, you were given 3 questions to answer about things you saw in the prints (observations about climate, human adaptations, and geographic features). Next, you were shown the 15 prints again, this time with captions and direction to pay close attention to parts of the picture (zoom-in selections that highlighted parts of each print). The questions were then posed again.
After going through the exercise, I observed that I caught a lot more about the pictures the second time. I attributed this to a few things: 1) I had a chance to go back through the images a second time, 2) I knew what questions I was being asked to answer, so I was paying more attention to details, 3) I had text to accompany the picture, which explained the picture a bit more.
This exercise had me pay attention to the fact that visuals alone probably aren’t enough to make literacy and understanding the most powerful it can be. Images and text together, along with guiding questions to guide the ‘eye’ when viewing images can be very effective for Reading instruction. I enjoyed this website because it had me actually interact with the idea and it made my learning more important.
Annette
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Visual Literacy Instructional Strategies
Zanin-Yost, Alessia and Donaldson, Christy (2005). How to Speak Out (Visually) At Your Library. Available online at: http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/donaldson-zanin-yost.html
I found a great website that reviewed an article published in Library Philosophy and Practice. The article discussed a lot about what visual literacy is and why it is important, but the part that interested me the most (since I already knew the other information) were the instructional strategies that teachers could use with visual literacy. In summary, some of the ideas were:
• Using images to refine observational skills
• Using images for pre-reading to gain a better understanding of complex ideas (through the use of graphic organizers, mapping ideas, and timelines
• Observing how numbers work through graphs, charts, and tables
• Using multimedia for more creative expressions in projects
I found these ideas to be great precursors for effective instruction in the classroom. I was thinking about things I already do in the classroom such as using pictures for vocabulary words and graphs to represent data. However, I continue to seek ways to make things more meaningful to students the FIRST time they view it. I look for ways to have my students have that ‘light bulb’ moment. I am constantly trying to think of new ways to present material.
Today, I created a PPT quiz for an ESL student. We frequently do quizzes our team creates from the Time for Kids magazine. So, I made a PPT slide that used the ‘Record Voice’ feature. I recorded myself reading the passage using more kid-friendly language and recorded myself reading the questions from my quiz. I haven’t graded it yet, but I hope it helped my student in a new way. He loves using the computers, so I thought it might be effective for him rather than me simply read the test to him sitting side-by-side.
Always looking for new ideas,
Annette
I found a great website that reviewed an article published in Library Philosophy and Practice. The article discussed a lot about what visual literacy is and why it is important, but the part that interested me the most (since I already knew the other information) were the instructional strategies that teachers could use with visual literacy. In summary, some of the ideas were:
• Using images to refine observational skills
• Using images for pre-reading to gain a better understanding of complex ideas (through the use of graphic organizers, mapping ideas, and timelines
• Observing how numbers work through graphs, charts, and tables
• Using multimedia for more creative expressions in projects
I found these ideas to be great precursors for effective instruction in the classroom. I was thinking about things I already do in the classroom such as using pictures for vocabulary words and graphs to represent data. However, I continue to seek ways to make things more meaningful to students the FIRST time they view it. I look for ways to have my students have that ‘light bulb’ moment. I am constantly trying to think of new ways to present material.
Today, I created a PPT quiz for an ESL student. We frequently do quizzes our team creates from the Time for Kids magazine. So, I made a PPT slide that used the ‘Record Voice’ feature. I recorded myself reading the passage using more kid-friendly language and recorded myself reading the questions from my quiz. I haven’t graded it yet, but I hope it helped my student in a new way. He loves using the computers, so I thought it might be effective for him rather than me simply read the test to him sitting side-by-side.
Always looking for new ideas,
Annette
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Televison Viewing and Critical Thinkers
Considine, David (1999). Critical Viewing and Critical Thinking Skills. Retrieved March 27, 2008, from the Center for Media Literacy Web site: http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article202.html
I read an interesting article for this post that discussed the power of using media such as the television for learning and developing critical thinkers. I remember when I was a kid, I heard the ‘age old’ comments about watching too much TV or sitting too close to the TV. This article caused me to reflect and ponder the thought that media such as TV could be a good source of critical thinking for kids.
The idea posed in this article is to teach children to be critical viewers. That would mean we are teaching them to think critically about a picture and enhance their future encounters with critical thought. The article identifies that most people view TV viewing as being very passive, but the article challenges that idea by saying television viewing requires the viewer to “mentally integrate diverse camera shots of a scene to construct an image as a whole” (Considine, 1999). One of the quotes made by Jack Solomon said, "Television images lull us into thinking that they are real, that they aren't iconic signs at all but realities. Since we see them, we trust them, often failing to realize that, like all signs, they have been constructed with a certain interest behind them."
The article continues to make me consider TV as a good method for literacy instruction because it can require a student to interpret meaning and compare and contrast reality and fiction. This article made me think a bit. Yes, I do think television could be a useful tool. I have spoke to many parents and gave them ideas such as using predict/infer strategies for commercials. For example, a commercial might show a woman with crazy hair, two different shoes, and an awkard look on her face walking to work one day. The only comment on the commercial might say, “Should have had a V8”. The parents could discuss how the woman feels and what the commercial might mean to help the child construct meaning.
Good thoughts,
Annette
I read an interesting article for this post that discussed the power of using media such as the television for learning and developing critical thinkers. I remember when I was a kid, I heard the ‘age old’ comments about watching too much TV or sitting too close to the TV. This article caused me to reflect and ponder the thought that media such as TV could be a good source of critical thinking for kids.
The idea posed in this article is to teach children to be critical viewers. That would mean we are teaching them to think critically about a picture and enhance their future encounters with critical thought. The article identifies that most people view TV viewing as being very passive, but the article challenges that idea by saying television viewing requires the viewer to “mentally integrate diverse camera shots of a scene to construct an image as a whole” (Considine, 1999). One of the quotes made by Jack Solomon said, "Television images lull us into thinking that they are real, that they aren't iconic signs at all but realities. Since we see them, we trust them, often failing to realize that, like all signs, they have been constructed with a certain interest behind them."
The article continues to make me consider TV as a good method for literacy instruction because it can require a student to interpret meaning and compare and contrast reality and fiction. This article made me think a bit. Yes, I do think television could be a useful tool. I have spoke to many parents and gave them ideas such as using predict/infer strategies for commercials. For example, a commercial might show a woman with crazy hair, two different shoes, and an awkard look on her face walking to work one day. The only comment on the commercial might say, “Should have had a V8”. The parents could discuss how the woman feels and what the commercial might mean to help the child construct meaning.
Good thoughts,
Annette
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Images Embedded with Vast Meaning
Davis, Francis J. (2002-2007). Power of Images: Creating the Myths of Our Time. Retrieved March 12, 2008, from the Center for Media Literacy website: http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article80.html
Picture from: http://clifflamere.com/Graphics/Img-Flags/firemen-flag-9-11-2001-b.jpg
G’day,
Wow, I work with an Australian teacher now, I think I’m picking up the accent! This evening I wanted to share some thoughts about the vast meanings found embedded in images waiting to be discovered. I visited a site called Center for Media Literacy that discusses the power of images. The website shares what images are and uncovers a lot of myths about current images portrayed in our world (a very interesting list that you might want to read for kicks), but my most profound discovery is a section that discussed the meanings of images. As I continue to find materials on visual literacy, I am really seeing that images have a lot more to them than I ever thought about. I typically used pictures to help my students make a connection with context, but I never thought how using images could bring out discussions beyond just the colors in the picture.
An illustration the author of the piece used was the American flag. Thinking about the flag typically brings to mind a vast amount of meaning for many people. Just as I type this, I think about the 9/11 tragedy and how the flag was placed in the middle of the rubble. I can also picture the flag and think of feelings of excitement and joy when my uncle came home from Desert Storm many years ago. Images convey meanings, sometimes deep, emotional meanings. On an elementary level, what power could images have for writing? Could elaborate stories be constructed based on looking at a picture?
Until next time,
Annette
Picture from: http://clifflamere.com/Graphics/Img-Flags/firemen-flag-9-11-2001-b.jpg
G’day,
Wow, I work with an Australian teacher now, I think I’m picking up the accent! This evening I wanted to share some thoughts about the vast meanings found embedded in images waiting to be discovered. I visited a site called Center for Media Literacy that discusses the power of images. The website shares what images are and uncovers a lot of myths about current images portrayed in our world (a very interesting list that you might want to read for kicks), but my most profound discovery is a section that discussed the meanings of images. As I continue to find materials on visual literacy, I am really seeing that images have a lot more to them than I ever thought about. I typically used pictures to help my students make a connection with context, but I never thought how using images could bring out discussions beyond just the colors in the picture.
An illustration the author of the piece used was the American flag. Thinking about the flag typically brings to mind a vast amount of meaning for many people. Just as I type this, I think about the 9/11 tragedy and how the flag was placed in the middle of the rubble. I can also picture the flag and think of feelings of excitement and joy when my uncle came home from Desert Storm many years ago. Images convey meanings, sometimes deep, emotional meanings. On an elementary level, what power could images have for writing? Could elaborate stories be constructed based on looking at a picture?
Until next time,
Annette
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Good evening fellow readers,
I have found a visual literacy-rich site today. ‘A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words’ site is from the University of North Carolina’s Education department. This website is very worthy of visiting. Have you ever wondered what types of questions you could ask students when looking at a photo? Pretty basic questions, right? For instance, “What do you think the person in the picture is thinking, feeling, or doing?” Well, this site offers questions for an image based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Yep, it has questions that attack the higher levels such as synthesizing, analyzing, and evaluating.
For example, look at the picture above one of the analysis questions is: “Why are these boys here and not in school?” or “What do you know about their lives based on this photo?” These two questions require a person looking at the photo to think deeper about the picture.
From exploring this interactive site, it made me think about how much deeper my questions could go if I would pre-think out higher level questions for my lessons. What would that produce in my students? Would they start associating images and literacy faster?
Hum?
Annette
Picture source: The Library of Congress
‘A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words’ Available at University of North Carolina Website: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/media/articles/bloom0405-3/bloompix.html
Monday, March 17, 2008
Images to Words
Burmark, Lynell (2008). Why Visual Literacy? Available online at: http://www.educatebetter.org/a_whyvisualliteracy.asp
Hi,
As my studies into visual literacy continue, I went out intending to explore black and white images, but instead found myself fixed on a website called ‘Harnessing the Power of Visual Literacy’ created by a lady named Dr. Lynell Burmark. She does studies, seminars, and sells materials that discuss visual literacy and how it can be used in education. The site explored many areas of visual literacy, but one area that specifically caught my eye was the concept of images proceeding words and not the other way around. Does that make sense? Well, let me explain. She shared a few examples such as how Einstein’s theory of relativity was developed. Did you know he imagined riding on a beam of light before he put it to the test with experimenting and ‘book data’?
Another example she used incorporates the picture above of the sunset. This picture was on the Internet recently with the following phrase, ““Dear God, I didn’t think purple and orange went together until I saw the sunset you created on Tuesday. That was cool.” – Eugene
From that picture and quote, she pointed out on her site that “The image always precedes the thought. I didn’t think… until I saw.”
Her entire point she tries to make is that as teachers, we assume that when we say a word such as ‘car’, all students imagine the same type of car. In reality, each student is developing a different picture of a car…some might even be picturing a truck or van because that’s what they consider their ‘mode of transportation’ at home. This makes me think about how I use vocabulary in my classroom. When we go over things without images sometimes, are all of my students really understanding what they mean? I have found myself using more images to explain vocabulary and having students do more activities that involve manipulating and matching vocabulary words with pictures. I wonder how deep elementary students can process thought from images? I think it is more than we believe. My thoughts at this point are what types of best practices are there for using visual images in literacy? Is there a set prescription that should be followed?
Annette
Hi,
As my studies into visual literacy continue, I went out intending to explore black and white images, but instead found myself fixed on a website called ‘Harnessing the Power of Visual Literacy’ created by a lady named Dr. Lynell Burmark. She does studies, seminars, and sells materials that discuss visual literacy and how it can be used in education. The site explored many areas of visual literacy, but one area that specifically caught my eye was the concept of images proceeding words and not the other way around. Does that make sense? Well, let me explain. She shared a few examples such as how Einstein’s theory of relativity was developed. Did you know he imagined riding on a beam of light before he put it to the test with experimenting and ‘book data’?
Another example she used incorporates the picture above of the sunset. This picture was on the Internet recently with the following phrase, ““Dear God, I didn’t think purple and orange went together until I saw the sunset you created on Tuesday. That was cool.” – Eugene
From that picture and quote, she pointed out on her site that “The image always precedes the thought. I didn’t think… until I saw.”
Her entire point she tries to make is that as teachers, we assume that when we say a word such as ‘car’, all students imagine the same type of car. In reality, each student is developing a different picture of a car…some might even be picturing a truck or van because that’s what they consider their ‘mode of transportation’ at home. This makes me think about how I use vocabulary in my classroom. When we go over things without images sometimes, are all of my students really understanding what they mean? I have found myself using more images to explain vocabulary and having students do more activities that involve manipulating and matching vocabulary words with pictures. I wonder how deep elementary students can process thought from images? I think it is more than we believe. My thoughts at this point are what types of best practices are there for using visual images in literacy? Is there a set prescription that should be followed?
Annette
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Literacy and Multimedia
Sankey, M. (2002) 'Considering Visual Literacy when Designing Instruction', e-JIST, Distance and e-Learning Centre, University of Southern Queensland, Vol 5 No 2, Toowoomba.
Stokes, Suzanne (2001.). Visual Literacy in Teaching and Learning: A Literature Perspective. Electronic Journal for the Integration of Technology in Education, 1(1) 10-19.
Woodbridge, Jerry (January 1, 2004). Digital Kaleidoscope: Learning with Multimedia. Retrieved March 11, 2008, from the TechLearning website, http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=17000193
Sankey (2002) characterizes visual literacy as ‘using images in the cognitive processing of information’. Woodbridge (2004) reports that multimedia is ‘a combination of digital media aspects such as text, images, sound, and video to create an application to convey meaning’. I see multimedia as a form of visual literacy because multimedia uses images combined with other components to convey meaning. Woodbridge also notes in his article that multimedia is useful in creating students that are engaged in thinking critically and finding solutions to problems. Critical thinking and problem solving are two higher level skills that encompass any literacy program. Therefore, multimedia is heavily a part of visual literacy because it strives to encourage others to find, process, and convey meaning based off of text and images in an enhanced format.
Visual literacy and multimedia have played a role in my classroom learning environment in the past. I have presented visual representation in all subject areas for students to improve academic achievement. For the basic areas of visual literacy, I have helped students learn things like vocabulary by creating vocabulary cards for a pocket chart that has a picture of the word to provide students with an image to tie to the word. I have also used things in my writing center to encourage productive stories. I added stamps and stickers for students to write with. For example, students could write a story by using stickers in place of words that would convey the word they are trying to portray. Another way I have incorporated visual literacy on the basic level is by having students act out parts of a story to gain meaning and have an illustrative representation of what is happening.
Using multimedia in the classroom is another area of visual literacy that I enjoy providing for my students. Fortunately, I am privy to have an interactive whiteboard that provides me with the ability to connect students to the World Wide Web with just a click. We use the Internet as a way to go and find images and videos that will shed light on things we don’t understand during a lesson. Students have the opportunity to create products that will enhance their learning of key concepts such as drawing conclusions and understanding story elements. Some of the things we do with multimedia are creating Voice Threads using online software, making presentations in MovieMaker or PowerPoint, and even watching educational videos on United Streaming.
Multimedia is a great way for students to seek meaning because they find understanding through using multimedia tools. Being that multimedia is a form of visual literacy, I would venture to say that any form of visual literacy will provide student achievements if used consistently and effectively. Visual literacy is going to be a powerful and dynamic concept in our changing technological world. Visual literacy will redefine what it means to be literate in our society. Multimedia will be a tool that plays a huge part in that concept.
When are digital applications distracting for students? How much is too much, or is that a factor? How do you know if the use of visual media is a help or a hinderance for students? If it's good for some, but not for others, how do you make the others its not good for feel okay with some of the classmates using technology and them not.
Annette
Stokes, Suzanne (2001.). Visual Literacy in Teaching and Learning: A Literature Perspective. Electronic Journal for the Integration of Technology in Education, 1(1) 10-19.
Woodbridge, Jerry (January 1, 2004). Digital Kaleidoscope: Learning with Multimedia. Retrieved March 11, 2008, from the TechLearning website, http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=17000193
Sankey (2002) characterizes visual literacy as ‘using images in the cognitive processing of information’. Woodbridge (2004) reports that multimedia is ‘a combination of digital media aspects such as text, images, sound, and video to create an application to convey meaning’. I see multimedia as a form of visual literacy because multimedia uses images combined with other components to convey meaning. Woodbridge also notes in his article that multimedia is useful in creating students that are engaged in thinking critically and finding solutions to problems. Critical thinking and problem solving are two higher level skills that encompass any literacy program. Therefore, multimedia is heavily a part of visual literacy because it strives to encourage others to find, process, and convey meaning based off of text and images in an enhanced format.
Visual literacy and multimedia have played a role in my classroom learning environment in the past. I have presented visual representation in all subject areas for students to improve academic achievement. For the basic areas of visual literacy, I have helped students learn things like vocabulary by creating vocabulary cards for a pocket chart that has a picture of the word to provide students with an image to tie to the word. I have also used things in my writing center to encourage productive stories. I added stamps and stickers for students to write with. For example, students could write a story by using stickers in place of words that would convey the word they are trying to portray. Another way I have incorporated visual literacy on the basic level is by having students act out parts of a story to gain meaning and have an illustrative representation of what is happening.
Using multimedia in the classroom is another area of visual literacy that I enjoy providing for my students. Fortunately, I am privy to have an interactive whiteboard that provides me with the ability to connect students to the World Wide Web with just a click. We use the Internet as a way to go and find images and videos that will shed light on things we don’t understand during a lesson. Students have the opportunity to create products that will enhance their learning of key concepts such as drawing conclusions and understanding story elements. Some of the things we do with multimedia are creating Voice Threads using online software, making presentations in MovieMaker or PowerPoint, and even watching educational videos on United Streaming.
Multimedia is a great way for students to seek meaning because they find understanding through using multimedia tools. Being that multimedia is a form of visual literacy, I would venture to say that any form of visual literacy will provide student achievements if used consistently and effectively. Visual literacy is going to be a powerful and dynamic concept in our changing technological world. Visual literacy will redefine what it means to be literate in our society. Multimedia will be a tool that plays a huge part in that concept.
When are digital applications distracting for students? How much is too much, or is that a factor? How do you know if the use of visual media is a help or a hinderance for students? If it's good for some, but not for others, how do you make the others its not good for feel okay with some of the classmates using technology and them not.
Annette
Friday, March 14, 2008
Images with Hue (Color)
For this post, I would like to share a visual literacy website I explored. It’s called the Online Visual Literacy Project. The site contains an overview of the importance of visual literacy as well as outlining basic elements of visuals such as hue, shape, texture, motion, and many others. One of the key things I focused on while I was exploring this site was the comments about hues or colors in images. The site didn’t offer a study, per se, but it did discuss the idea that images with color (hues) provide much more meaning than when they are only black and white. I included two pictures to illustrate examples.
The first picture of the man shows a red hue that can portray anger or a strong, negative emotion. The second picture of the woman shows a blue hue that is more calming and relaxing. Both pictures without words give a context to the viewer. As I continue reading literature on visual literacy, I am starting to see that literacy isn’t just being able to read, it’s more than that. It seems that literacy is also about understanding through a variety of methods. Visual representations can easily be a method for literacy. My driving questions now are: How does age affect visual literacy? When are images not effective? Can images be effective in black and white? Will standardized tests change based on new visual literacy research and changing technologies?
Red Hue Image from: From The Year of Living Dangerously (Australia, 1983), directed by Peter Weir
Blue Hue Image from: Gucci, 1994
Pinkel, S. (1998). What is Visual Literacy? The Online Visual Literacy Project. Available at: http://www.pomona.edu/Academics/courserelated/classprojects/Visual-lit/intro/intro.html
What are your thoughts on the use of color versus black and white?
Annette
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Learning With Images
Hi fellow teacher friends,
For my first official 'learning' post, I wanted to share a couple of articles I have synthesized.
Kovalik, Cindy and Peggy King (n.d.). Visual Literacy, Retrieved February 8, 2008, from Kent State University Website: http://www.educ.kent.edu/community/VLO/
Riklan, David (2004). How to Immediately Determine which of the Top 3 Learning Styles Will Work Best for You, Retrieved February 9, 2008, from Self Growth Website: http://www.selfgrowth.com/gwlesson3.html
Stokes, Suzanne (2001.). Visual Literacy in Teaching and Learning: A Literature Perspective. Electronic Journal for the Integration of Technology in Education, 1(1) 10-19. Available at: http://ejite.isu.edu/Volume1No1/pdfs/stokes.pdf
Kovalik and King (n.d.) define visual literacy as “the ability to understand, create, and use visual images”. Their research shows that visual literacy has three parts: visual thinking, visual communication, and visual learning. Visual thinking is where a person must develop thoughts or ideas based on an image. Visual communication is where those thoughts and ideas are used to express an idea to people. Lastly, visual learning is when something is learned from an image. I believe that people do learn with images because people do apply thinking, communicating, and learning by simply looking at an image.
“Without image, thinking is impossible”, is a quote by Aristotle (as cited in Stokes, pg. 10). I think this quote sums up the entire idea of visual literacy. You cannot understand written text without applying some type of prior knowledge or understanding. Prior knowledge is the development of an image or an experience (likely a visual representation) to understand something. Riklan (2004) reports that around 65 percent of the population are visual learners. This means that they construct some type of image in their minds to interpret meaning. Visual literacy, in my opinion is simply putting a label on what 65 percent of us do daily to interpret meaning.
Visual literacy can be a powerful tool for learning in the classroom. Stokes mentioned many things in her article that I agree with when it comes to discussing the importance and impact of visual literacy. In my personal experience I have found that written text accompanied by graphics are far more beneficial for lower students than just written text. When students do not have a vast bank of prior knowledge to pull from, they need to see an image to make a connection to gain meaning. Images can play a major key in whether a student gains meaning or not. Another one of Stokes research findings related to achievement being higher when using color images versus using black and white images. I can also agree with this finding because I find that color brings more meaning to an image by expressing the image to a fuller extent. Color, for example, shows that grass is green and the sky can be many shades of blue. Black and white images do not portray the richness of that understanding.
Learning through images is also a very important tool with students of another language. In my personal experiences, I have found great success working with my ESL students with visual representations for learning. I have seen great gains in testing and observation when these particular students have the ability to attach text that isn’t their primary language to an image to help them understand. Not only is learning through images good for them, but it also will benefit all learners.
In a world that is advancing in technology very fast, many of our resources in the day-to-day world involve images to deliver content. Television, the Internet, software such as PowerPoint and iMovies, video simulations, and many other things out there today are the resources our students use on a daily basis. They relate to these things like they are second nature, so we should take advantage of that in our classrooms. Students will always have more digital media exposed to them on a daily basis as technology continues to grow. As a teacher, I think that we need to adapt and understand that our students learn in a different way than we once did. We had to create images in our minds from the texts we read in school. Now, they have the ability to already have the image to utilize and make a connection to their prior knowledge. The more we expose our students to visual literacy, the more we will enhance their learning.
Until next time,
Annette
For my first official 'learning' post, I wanted to share a couple of articles I have synthesized.
Kovalik, Cindy and Peggy King (n.d.). Visual Literacy, Retrieved February 8, 2008, from Kent State University Website: http://www.educ.kent.edu/community/VLO/
Riklan, David (2004). How to Immediately Determine which of the Top 3 Learning Styles Will Work Best for You, Retrieved February 9, 2008, from Self Growth Website: http://www.selfgrowth.com/gwlesson3.html
Stokes, Suzanne (2001.). Visual Literacy in Teaching and Learning: A Literature Perspective. Electronic Journal for the Integration of Technology in Education, 1(1) 10-19. Available at: http://ejite.isu.edu/Volume1No1/pdfs/stokes.pdf
Kovalik and King (n.d.) define visual literacy as “the ability to understand, create, and use visual images”. Their research shows that visual literacy has three parts: visual thinking, visual communication, and visual learning. Visual thinking is where a person must develop thoughts or ideas based on an image. Visual communication is where those thoughts and ideas are used to express an idea to people. Lastly, visual learning is when something is learned from an image. I believe that people do learn with images because people do apply thinking, communicating, and learning by simply looking at an image.
“Without image, thinking is impossible”, is a quote by Aristotle (as cited in Stokes, pg. 10). I think this quote sums up the entire idea of visual literacy. You cannot understand written text without applying some type of prior knowledge or understanding. Prior knowledge is the development of an image or an experience (likely a visual representation) to understand something. Riklan (2004) reports that around 65 percent of the population are visual learners. This means that they construct some type of image in their minds to interpret meaning. Visual literacy, in my opinion is simply putting a label on what 65 percent of us do daily to interpret meaning.
Visual literacy can be a powerful tool for learning in the classroom. Stokes mentioned many things in her article that I agree with when it comes to discussing the importance and impact of visual literacy. In my personal experience I have found that written text accompanied by graphics are far more beneficial for lower students than just written text. When students do not have a vast bank of prior knowledge to pull from, they need to see an image to make a connection to gain meaning. Images can play a major key in whether a student gains meaning or not. Another one of Stokes research findings related to achievement being higher when using color images versus using black and white images. I can also agree with this finding because I find that color brings more meaning to an image by expressing the image to a fuller extent. Color, for example, shows that grass is green and the sky can be many shades of blue. Black and white images do not portray the richness of that understanding.
Learning through images is also a very important tool with students of another language. In my personal experiences, I have found great success working with my ESL students with visual representations for learning. I have seen great gains in testing and observation when these particular students have the ability to attach text that isn’t their primary language to an image to help them understand. Not only is learning through images good for them, but it also will benefit all learners.
In a world that is advancing in technology very fast, many of our resources in the day-to-day world involve images to deliver content. Television, the Internet, software such as PowerPoint and iMovies, video simulations, and many other things out there today are the resources our students use on a daily basis. They relate to these things like they are second nature, so we should take advantage of that in our classrooms. Students will always have more digital media exposed to them on a daily basis as technology continues to grow. As a teacher, I think that we need to adapt and understand that our students learn in a different way than we once did. We had to create images in our minds from the texts we read in school. Now, they have the ability to already have the image to utilize and make a connection to their prior knowledge. The more we expose our students to visual literacy, the more we will enhance their learning.
Until next time,
Annette
Sunday, March 9, 2008
My Growing Area of Interest
Hi and welcome to my blog. This blog was created to share classroom ideas and technology tips prior to this entry. Beginning today, I am transforming my blog just a bit to focus more on my specific growing area of interest: the use of digital media presentations (PowerPoints, iMovies, Voice Threads, etc.) in the classroom and how it effects student achievement.
Okay, there isn't much difference, but I wanted to create a new introduction because currently I am beginning a new online course that has asked me to focus specifically on an educational technology area I am wanting to learn more about. Therefore, here we are! I hope you enjoy my blog, and I hope it offers resources for you to use. Please feel free to share and post your thoughts or resources back.
Wishes,
Annette
Okay, there isn't much difference, but I wanted to create a new introduction because currently I am beginning a new online course that has asked me to focus specifically on an educational technology area I am wanting to learn more about. Therefore, here we are! I hope you enjoy my blog, and I hope it offers resources for you to use. Please feel free to share and post your thoughts or resources back.
Wishes,
Annette
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
