The authors explore how graphic novels can be used in the middle and high school social studies classroom to teach human rights. The article begins with a rationale on the benefits of using graphic novels. It next focuses on four graphic novels related to human rights issues: "Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds" (Speigelman…

Offers secondary social studies teachers instructional strategies for using wordless picture books, or short, often complex books that tell a story or present a concept through illustrations. Includes a list of such books and offers four instructional strategies for their use. (JDH)

Presents an assignment which utilizes alternative ways to absorb new information: using a small section of the material to be learned, students illustrate on a poster board what they think it means and teach each other when they present their posters to the class. (RAE)

Reports results of two studies using physics materials to determine the parameters of pictorial analogies in combination with expository text. Shows that pictorial analogies can improve learning significantly if they are designed properly and used together with the text. Concludes that the analogies should have high structural similarity between…

Presents multisensory methods for adapting classroom lectures for mainstreamed students. (FL)

This study uses a conceptual problem-solving test to investigate the effect of a series of pictorial analogies on the concepts of density, pressure, and atmospheric pressure in Year Eight classrooms. Findings indicate that students taught with the pictorial analogies scored significantly higher than their counterparts. Low achievers were the most…

Visual compositions can be used in the content areas to address comprehension problems posed by implicit factors in any content theme. The importance of a visual presentation for writing is that it can instantly portray the theme to be learned and act as a catalyst to elicit words and sentences to help explain that content theme. Stages of…

Film and writing each resolve quite differently the problem of how to communicate. Still, film can demonstrate some underlying principles that are helpful to writers, especially those writers lacking understanding or skill in certain writing principles. There are at least five principles that both film and composition portray: the importance of…

This study provides English teachers who teach, or plan to teach, film courses, with an analysis of the unique structural elements of film, suggestions for the teaching of a high school elective course on film, and activities that teach visual literacy skills. The first part of this study analyzes and defines visual literacy. Chapters provide…

A printed text can be considered a picture on which readers project their own image in order to understand its original meaning. This process is explained via several kinds of original documents. Implications for instruction in reading a foreign language are discussed and several examples are given. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

This article provides a rationale for using graphic organizers based on the fact that students with language disorders often struggle with traditional instruction that places large demands on language skills. Effective features of graphic organizers are identified and examples of direct instruction in secondary algebra using graphic organizers are…

A computer-based method of communicating syntactic knowledge to deaf students was designed, building on the visual orientation of deaf students and employing such American Sign Language techniques as visualization and directionality. The computer-based instructional treatments were presented as an educational game called the "Yes-No Game," with…

Most art programs at the secondary level and beyond hope to produce students who can make discriminating aesthetic judgments about many kinds of visual art forms. This paper describes how students judge the art they encounter and suggests how art teachers might improve the quality of their students' responses. (Author/IS)

Examines how students use geographical maps in history and social studies textbooks for comprehension purposes. Reports training 32 eleventh graders to use maps as aids in their comprehension of information. Finds a positive impact upon comprehension and learning of the original training passage. (MG)

The role of video as a foreign language textbook of the future is discussed. The flexibility of the video format accommodates a wide variety of learning style characteristics. It is maintained that the ideal textbook: (1) empowers the teacher by matching the teacher's objectives, by being under the teacher's control, by condensing time, by…