Visual Teaching Alliance

May 2009 Blog Posts (13)

Visual Learning Study Challenges Common Belief on Attention

A visual learning study by scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston indicates that viewers can learn a great deal about objects in their field of vision even without paying attention. The findings will appear in the April 14 print issue of the journal Current Biology. Contrary to common belief, attention may actually impair the ability of people to draw conclusions based on the visual images or stimuli they observe, reports Valentin Dragoi, Ph.D., the study's… Continue

Added by Timothy Gangwer on May 28, 2009 at 9:34am — No Comments

Honoring Both Sides of the Self

We all have two halves to our Selves, just as we have two halves of our bodies. We are both “right-brained” and “left-brained,” masculine and feminine, introvert and extravert, conscious and unconscious—the yin/yang of human experience. We tend to identify with one half of each polarity, and the other half lives in Shadow. If we are born female, we may know very little about our masculine sides, and vice versa. If we are left-hemispheric dominant, we may have neglected the development of our… Continue

Added by Timothy Gangwer on May 26, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Education Strategies for Visual-Spatial Learners

The visual-spatial thinking and learning style is very powerful. Visual-spatial learners are excellent visualisers and must visualise in order to learn. Visual-spatial learners think primarily in pictures not words - either “still” like photographs or “moving” like videos. They need time to translate their pictures into words and should not be hurried to provide answers to questions.

Their thought process is random abstract pattern recognition rather than sequential and they have… Continue

Added by Timothy Gangwer on May 22, 2009 at 9:58am — No Comments

Imagining Pedagogy: Infusing Visual Literacy in Schools

Introduction

The world is changing. If education was to be a preparation for life, it has to transform in tandem, (and if possible, anticipate) the changes in the world. One of the key changes in the world today is the advent of the information revolution. In the 21st century, with the invention of the computer chip, the ways in which knowledge is constructed and retrieved have changed markedly. Factors responsible for such changes include the emergence of the Interactive… Continue

Added by Timothy Gangwer on May 18, 2009 at 11:23am — No Comments

Visual news and information

I am posting on the presentation of visual information at http://visualtimes.blogspot.com/.

Much of my focus on this blog is on the New York Times and politics. I invite you all to check is out http://visualtimes.blogspot.com/

Project work on digital history from my students at NC State can be found at http://dhpp.org/

Added by John Lee on May 17, 2009 at 6:26pm — No Comments

Children Live in a Visual World

Children live in a visual world and the ability to read visual images is becoming a vital skill. Rebecca Jenkin offers guidance on how to help key stage 2 students think critically about visual data.

Visual images are fast becoming the most predominant form of communication. Children are surrounded by all sorts of visual media now and according to Mary Alice White, researcher at Columbia Teachers’ College:

‘Young people learn more than half of what they know from… Continue

Added by Timothy Gangwer on May 16, 2009 at 6:11pm — No Comments

Better Learning and Expressing of Learning through Visual Literacy

Our cave ancestors were visually literate; their lives depended on how well they could visually read the world around them. Today our students are visually literate within their world of “electronic images” such as TV, video games, and the Web; they want to be visually literate in their school which is often devoid of visuals.

One major component of 21st century skills is Digital-Age Literacy. This literacy consists of scientific/technological literacy; visual literacy; and cultural… Continue

Added by Timothy Gangwer on May 13, 2009 at 11:13am — No Comments

A Visual Learner Learns Best By:

A Visual Learner

Learns Best By:

- Taking notes and making lists to read later

- Reading information to be learned

- Learning from books, videotapes, filmstrips and printouts

- Seeing a demonstration

THE VISUAL LEARNER WILL NEED TO SEE ALL STUDY MATERIAL.

- Practice visualizing (mental imagery) or picturing spelling words.

- Write out everything for frequent and quick visual… Continue

Added by Timothy Gangwer on May 11, 2009 at 10:03am — No Comments

Through a Class Darkly: Visual Literacy

“Viewing and Representing in the Middle Years” was a two-year project to investigate visual literacy in the English language arts classrooms of three teachers. These teachers tried a variety of approaches and were generally optimistic about the benefits of the increased inclusion of visual materials. They did, however, report a number of challenges in using viewing and representing approaches as part of their curriculum. Teachers’ previous experiences influenced their implementation of an… Continue

Added by Timothy Gangwer on May 8, 2009 at 10:16am — No Comments

More On Visual Intelligence

Visual Intelligence

Howard Gardner in Frames of Mind (1983), and Multiple Intelligences (1993), identified many kinds of intelligence including: verbal-linguistic, mathematical-logical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. Gardner states, “ Intelligences always work in concert, and any sophisticated adult role will involve a melding of several of them.” (Gardner & Walters, 1993, p.17)

Visual literacy refers… Continue

Added by Timothy Gangwer on May 7, 2009 at 9:59am — No Comments

Digital Visual Literacy

A modern, literate person is one who is not only able to read and write but is educated in all the basic means necessary to thrive in a digital, networked world.

An important aspect of this general literacy is a digital visual literacy, the ability to critically analyze visual materials, create effective visual communications, and make judgments and decisions using visual representations of thoughts and ideas.

Digital visual literacy is a set of skills that enable students… Continue

Added by Timothy Gangwer on May 5, 2009 at 1:19pm — 1 Comment

Proving or Improving Visual Education: Implications for Teacher Education

Knowledge, as central to sustaining society and culture, is becoming increasingly dependent on the visual. While other signs and symbol systems such as text and numbers have dominated, and other arts forms such as music and dance are able to express and reveal the pulse of human existence, it is the emergence of new visual technologies and new multimodal forms of the visual that see us expressing and communicating, as never before, in a wide variety of visual forms and materials - including… Continue

Added by Timothy Gangwer on May 4, 2009 at 1:19pm — No Comments

Visual Literacy, Journalism and the Digital Age

Abstract

In the digital age visual literacy is becoming integral to journalism education. As the production and reception of the screen shifts from an analogue world to a digital constellation, the significance of visual literacy begs to be addressed. While recognizing that traditionally, areas such as television journalism have always worked in tandem with camera operators and vision editors to re-present people and circumstances; the digital age ought to be understood… Continue

Added by Timothy Gangwer on May 3, 2009 at 12:56pm — No Comments