A picture is worth a thousand words: Visual literacy

Social Studies Review, Spring 2003 by Murphey, Carol E

VISUAL LEARNING

"In the olden days when you were alive did they have TV?" was a frequent question my young students and my own children used to ask me. After reassuring them that I was still among the living, we would talk about images past and present. Pictures are important sources of information for all of us young and old. They are particularly important to the visual learner and second language students. Art museums are rich sources of pictures that depict historic events and the geography of the past, as well as the present. Illustrated trade books are also valuable. In this modern age we also have videos and movies. All of these resources can enrich the understanding of a topic by students.

LEARNING TO LOOK

Students need to learn to notice and discuss details in a visual source. Joseph Piro states in The Reading Teacher "The strategy of "reading" a picture, part by part, using it as a text aligned with other curriculum areas may be known but underused by many reading teachers." Social Studies teachers K-12 should be utilizing the rich wealth of primary source material available in the form of paintings in museums, as well as all the trade books, documentary videos and movies that are available. Some guidance for helping students to learn to look:

1- Two or three students looking at the visual and discussing what they find sharpens the skills of all. What one-person notices, may not be what the next one sees.

2- Have the students list the people, the objects, the actions occurring, and the landscape they see. Ask them to zero in on the smallest of details.

3- Ask the students to decide what is the dominant idea presented by the picture. Why do they think that is the main theme?

4- How does color, or the lack of color, depict the mood of the moment?

5- What symbols or actions convey the artists' idea of the event?

6- What is happening in the visual that tells you about event. What is the event about?

7- Given what the students have learned from the visual, ask them to create the next thing that will happen in the event. This can be a picture or an oral story.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

Historic Paintings

1-Have the students divided into groups of three.

2-Give each group a painting of an historic event.

3-The students examine the painting for details as described above.

4-The Recorder in each group writes down each detail, as it is discovered.

5-When the group has exhausted discovery, have them discuss with each other what they learned about the event depicted.

6-The group takes their list and uses it to make a poster that gives the viewer the heart of the experience in the painting. It can be a protest poster or a poster that advocates a cause.

7-The group present the poster to the entire group and describes the thought processes that went into its creation.

Human Timelines

1-Divide your class into groups of five or six.

2-Have each member of the group cut eye slots and a nose notch into a 4" x 6" index card. This is the basic half mask.

3-Each group member decorates a mask for a major event on the timeline they have been given. The mask should represent with ornamentation that particular time and place they represent.

4-Each mask wearer should create a speech that tells about that time and place represented. (Some research is required here, unless this a culminating activity.)

The wearer should be prepared to deliver the speech to the entire group.

5-The group assembles in chronological order and the timeline speaks. Body motions can also be added. If the masked person wishes to deliver their speech in song, this is an acceptable addition.

Profile of a Continent

1-Divide the class into pairs.

2-Have each pair investigate a physical map of the United States.

3-The group should discuss among themselves the meaning of the following geographic terms:

When the meaning of a term cannot be decided upon, students should look it up in a dictionary. They should be cautioned to choose the meaning that relates to geography.

4-Using a large piece of chart paper, the students then draw a profile of the Continent of North America, as represented by the portion that is the United States. They should start on the East Coast and end up on the West Coast. Each landform should be drawn where the students think it is, and it should be labeled. The physical map may be used as a reference if needed. (A profile is a continuous black line that, dips down, up, flattens out, etc. as you cross from coast to coast.)

5-Present your profile to the class and explain your terms.

6-An extra activity for the group is to use the landform words to create the landform using the letters of the word, as in this example:

SUMMARY

While being visually literate is important for all students, it is particularly important that this avenue of learning be offered to second language learners and those who are visual learners. Students need training in looking for important details in visual sources and training in how to draw conclusions from those details.

CREDITS

Joseph Piro, The Picture of Reading: Deriving Meaning in Literacy Through Image, The Reading Teacher 10/02.