Fifth graders interpreted the book "Doll Bones" by Holly Black through visual representations from the beginning to the end of the book. Each visual representation was analyzed to determine how students responded. Most frequently, they moved to inferential ways of understanding. Students often visually interpreted emotional plot elements…

Perceiving a 3-dimensional (3D) diagram on a 2-dimensional (2D) surface or plane can be a challenging endeavor for students at the elementary or primary grade levels. Adding to this challenge are the intricacies present in understanding the processes involved in geometric problems of such a nature. To ease the comprehension of these processes,…

This column provides background science information for elementary teachers. This month's issue helps teachers to understand color mixing so that they can teach this information to students.

Visual-spatial ability is important for mathematics learning but also for future STEM participation. Some studies report children with dyslexia have superior visual-spatial skills and other studies report a deficit. We sought to further explore the relationship between children formally identified as having dyslexia and visual-spatial ability.…

The context of students as architects is used to examine the similarities and differences between prisms and pyramids. Leavy and Hourigan use the Van Hiele Model as a tool to support teachers to develop expectations for differentiating geometry in the classroom using practical examples.

Tracy Logan and Tom Lowrie argue that while little attention is given to visual imagery and spatial reasoning within the Australian Curriculum, a significant proportion of National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tasks require high levels of visuospatial reasoning. This article includes teaching ideas to promote visuospatial…

Insect vision is an area of active research that allows fruitful exploration into the nature of the scientific endeavor because of the bias our own vision brings. As scientists, we use our senses to make observations, but we can't assume that what we see is what insects see; we are forced to think outside of our own senses when we ask questions…

This article presents a lesson centering on aerial perspective artistry of students and offers suggestions on how art teachers should carry this project out. This project serves to develop students' visual perception by studying reproductions by famous artists. This lesson allows one to imagine being lured into a landscape capable of captivating…

The principles of Hungarian music educator Zoltan Kodaly can be particularly useful not only in teaching children how to read music notation but also in creating curiosity and enjoyment for reading music. Many of Kodaly's ideas pertaining to music literacy have been echoed by educators such as Jerome Bruner and Edwin Gordon, as well as current…

Texture is how things feel or how they look as though they might feel if one touches them. Some surfaces are rough and some are smooth to the touch. There are many other words, such as bumpy, used to describe texture when one feels or sees it. This article presents an art project in which elementary students explain how texture is used in art,…

According to Maxine Greene (1988), aesthetic education is "integral to the development of persons--to their cognitive, perceptual, emotional, and imaginative development" (p. 7). The purpose of this paper is to present the developing sense of self that pre-service teachers experienced through an aesthetic entry point, the 9/11 mural by…

From her first encounter with stereoscopic 3D technology designed for classroom instruction, Megan Timme, principal at Hamilton Park Pacesetter Magnet School in Dallas, sensed it could be transformative. Last spring, when she began pilot-testing 3D content in her third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms, Timme wasn't disappointed. Students…

This article presents the argument that combining visual methods with other qualitative research methods enhances the inherent strengths of each methodology and allows new understandings to emerge. These would otherwise remain hidden if only one method were used in isolation. In a qualitative inquiry of an elementary teacher's constructivist…

Using works of art with young children is a perfect way to bridge the gap between art activities that are too open or too closed. Teachers of young children sometimes try to find a middle ground by allowing free painting time at an easel in addition to recipe-oriented activities such as putting together precut shapes to create a spider or an apple…

Light is radiation in wavelengths composed of many colors that are visible to the eyes. These wavelengths can be separated. One way to separate colors is with a filter. Filters keep certain wavelengths out and allow other wavelengths to pass through. In this article, the authors discuss an activity to provide students the opportunity to build a…