Individuals with spatial strengths have preferences for visual ideation, holistic reasoning, and innovation. With the emphasis on verbal skills, American schools rarely provide opportunities for children to excel in these areas. Standardized assessments used to judge achievement do not value reflective thinking and innovation; therefore, students…

Young children notice and make use of illustrations in picture books as they read independently as evidenced by statements such as this one from Sarah's retelling of "The Wolf's Chicken Stew": "He couldn't catch him; so he did like this (child folds arms across chest) against the tree". Scholars in the field of children's literature have long…

Picturebooks tell stories in both words and pictures. Interacting with the printed word, the technical elements of illustration--color, line, shape and composition--work to establish and enhance the story. Sometimes simply by adding description of characters and setting, and, at times, by challenging the veracity of the text with ironic or…

Imaginative and attractive, cutting edge in its conception, this text explicates a model for the integration of language arts and literacy education based on the notion of framing. The act of framing--not frames in themselves--provides a creative and critical approach to English as a subject. "Re-framing Literacy" breaks new ground in the language…

Sensory overload and split attention result in reduced learning when instructors read slides with bullet points and complex graphs during a lecture. Conversely, slides containing relevant visual elements, when accompanied by instructor narration, use both the visual and verbal channels of a student's working memory, thus improving the chances of…

Instruction of competent psychomotor skill necessitates an eclectic approach. The principles of learning, complemented with learning styles and sensory modalities preferences, provide a background for teaching physical skills. The use of the psychomotor domain of Bloom's Taxonomy as a map and corresponding behavioral objectives foster the mastery…

This article discusses a program that, by emphasizing individuality, integration, adaptability, and functionality (the IIAF model), improves the visual functioning of students who are visually impaired, have multiple disabilities, and function at a severely or profoundly impaired level. Examples of recommended visual learning activities are…

Discusses the use of the Rainbow Solfege system with early elementary aged children. Uses color-coding to connect the teaching of music notation symbols with aural solfege. Addresses the use of color in teaching music and how to use the system. (CMK)

Describes an art project for high school students that incorporates maskmaking with mixed-media. Explains that students choose subjects for their masks, either a fictional character, a famous figure, or a symbol of social commentary. States that the project develops students' creative problem-solving and critical thinking skills. (CMK)

Cued Speech (CS) is a tool used to make spoken languages visible. While it uses the hands to communicate information visually, it is not a form of sign language. Signed languages are languages in their own right and use the hands, body, and face to present complete concepts rather than words. They have their own grammar systems and vocabularies.…

This document gives anecdotal stories of child art making along with philosophical interpretations for art teaching application. Art making is seen as experimental. It progresses from action to intentional mark making, naming, symbolic representation, and finally to "presence", an aesthetic creation experience that combines seeing and…

Students who are deaf and hard of hearing have special needs that must be accommodated before they can fully benefit from various types of classroom presentation technology. An optimal classroom situation for learners who must depend primarily on visual input includes careful consideration of factors such as room set up, legibility of the media,…