We present an integrated theoretical framework guiding the use of visual narratives in educational settings. We focus specifically on the use of static and dynamic visual narratives to teach and assess inference skills in young children and discuss evidence to support the efficacy of this approach. In doing so, first we review the basis of the…

Connecting with text-weary students can be a challenge in the online instructional environment. Librarians have often developed screencast videos and integrated screenshots into online learning objects to teach students basic research skills. An alternative technology, graphical interchange format (GIF), may prove to be an excellent blend of the…

When students come to class, they bring with them the most powerful processor known to man--the human brain! Our job as teachers is to discover and implement practices that will make the most effective use of those brains. The human brain is a very powerful processor of sensory information, especially with regard to the sense of vision. We can…

Good learning experiences ask students to investigate and make sense of the world. While there are many ways to do this, K-12 curriculum has traditionally skewed toward reading and writing to interpret and express students' sense-making. But there is another way. Infographics represent data and ideas visually, in pictures, engaging more parts of…

When it comes to helping others learn, there is a simple piece of advice that is often recommended to educators: Show! Don't tell. While appealing to the visual learning style of an audience is always a good idea, there is a growing expectation for more than just static images. They want video, which can deliver more dynamic presentations with…

This article surveys research in the areas of aesthetics and design, usability, visual aesthetics in education, and recent statistics related to online education. The focus of the article is on defining the role of visual content and aesthetics in the user interface and exploring what importance aesthetics and visual content have to education.…

Not all children are made the same. Learning disabilities like dyslexia, dysgraphia or dyscalculia are either not understood or ignored in schools. As a result, the schoolchildren suffer for no fault of theirs and they lag behind in their course of learning. They may find it difficult to achieve the basic skills of learning such as reading,…

An extensive research literature in education and psychology demonstrates positive effects of perspective-taking on various forms of learning. Until recently, perspective-taking has been limited to the mental simulation of how someone with different beliefs, knowledge, physical location, etc., perceives an object or event. Over the last decade…

PowerPoint and other visual technologies have become pervasive in schools. Adoption of these technologies is perceived as a necessary--or, at the very least, an educationally appropriate--innovation in UK schools, even though systematic examination of their use is relatively recent. On the basis of a wider ethnographic study of ICT use in one UK…

Visual learning is a strategy for visually representing the structure of information and for representing the ways in which concepts are related. Based on the work of Ausubel, these hierarchical maps facilitate student learning of unfamiliar information in the K-12 classroom. This paper presents the research base for this Type II computer tool, as…

Describes Wavemaker, a simulation environment developed to graphically reveal the behavior of periodic systems using a series of increasingly sophisticated visual tools. Results indicate that the software is helpful in connecting real to simulated systems. (Author/CCM)

Describes the design of a learning environment, called the Climate Visualizer, intended to facilitate scientific sense-making in high school classrooms by providing students the ability to craft, inspect, and annotate scientific visualizations. Discusses how visualizations can promote creation of scientific theories, especially in conjunction with…

Due to the importance of visual stimuli for learning, the videodisc is expected to have a major impact on education. When combined with the computer, it will greatly expand the capabilities of computer assisted instruction. There are two major types of videodisc equipment: the optical type with a laser beam to read the information from the disc,…

This paper discusses the development of a sociocultural and local, context-sensitive base for guidance in selection and evaluation of instructional media. The development of system relationships criterion specifically targeted at 16mm educational film is the focus of the paper. Banathy's educational systems model is used as a base upon which…

This report provides the proceedings of the twenty-second Lake Okoboji Educational Media Leadership Conference which dealt with various aspects of visual literacy in education. The general sessions are briefly described. A major portion of the report pertains to nine subtopics: (1) visual literacy in teacher education; (2) implications for the…