1. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Danna Mitschke
Science Specialist
Region 6 ESC

2. Resource Credit Belongs to the following:
Authors:
Jo Anne Vasquez
Michael W. Comer
Frankie Troutman
July 22, 2012
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3. Our Goal
Develop an awareness of the mental processes involved in interpreting visuals and to provide strategies to make more effective use of visual and spatial organizational tools to enhance student mastery of content.
July 22, 2012
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4. Why Students Need Visual Literacy Skills
Interpret, understand, and appreciate the meaning of visual messages
Processing, organization, and assimilation of new knowledge
Interpretation, demonstration, and application of knowledge to new situations
Overcome language barriers
Resist manipulation in advertising
Communicate more effectively
Visuals to conceptualize solutions to problems
July 22, 2012
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5. Activity#1: What Do You See?
July 22, 2012
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6. See-Scan-Analyze
Good observers of visual images follow the same steps as fluent readers.
Eyes scan picture
Data gathered
Relate information to personal experiences
Assign relative importance to information to form an explanation
Conclusions are reached
July 22, 2012
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7. See-Scan-Analyze Thinking Process
OBSERVATION
INFERENCE
EMOTIONS
July 22, 2012
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8. Interpreting Photographs
July 22, 2012
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9. Helping Students Students Need: 1. Explicit instructions and guidance
2. Encouragement and modeling on how to make observations
3. To ask themselves questions about what they see
4. To take time to reflect on what they saw
5. To be shown how to put the information together
July 22, 2012
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10. See-Scan-Analyze Practice- Handout
Fill in the Activity #2 Handout
Utilize the See-Scan-Analyze Thinking Process (Observations, Inferences, and Justifications)
Observation
Inference
Justification
July 22, 2012
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11. Fostering Questions and Curiosity
What other questions do you still have?
….We are left to speculate…. This is a good thing!
Speculation leads to creative learning opportunities:
Writing an explanation to go along with the picture
Creating a dialogue
Encouraging more descriptive writing to make thinking visible
Asking more investigative questions
July 22, 2012
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12. See-Scan-Analyze What is happening?
What information in the picture helped you decide?
Did you wonder why this activity was happening?
Were you curious about anything?
When and where did this scene take place?
July 22, 2012
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13. Interpreting Photographs
A single image can capture the meaning of a complex idea or concept that would require many pages of text to describe.
Give the students an engaging question first.
Then give them a photograph.
It looks like this…
July 22, 2012
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14. What do you think a jungle looks like to a person from the back of an elephant?
To heighten your students’ awareness of the many elements in this photo, you might ask:
What is the position of the viewer in this picture?
Where is the rest of the elephant?
As we study the picture, what senses in addition to our sight might come into play?
What does the vegetation indicate?
What adaptations does the elephant display for survival in his environment?
July 22, 2012
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15. Metacognition and Graphic Images
To be visually literate, students need to:
Recognize the importance that pictures play in conveying scientific information
Know when to pause and carefully analyze pictures, and
Learn about when and where the pictures are relevant and how they can use these pictures in their learning
July 22, 2012
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16. Actively Promoting Visual Literacy
Teachers must engage in specific learning activities to help students develop skills and knowledge necessary to make meaning from the images they view and then relate that meaning to the science content they are studying.
Teachers, therefore, need to actively promote instructional strategies to assist all learners to make connections between the text and the visuals.
July 22, 2012
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17. The Challenge of Complicated Images
Universal Symbols:
Restrooms, Restaurants, Sleeping Accommodations, etc.
What is the purpose of these symbols?
In Science and Technology:
Are symbols part of our common language?
What is the purpose of these symbols?
…to convey information that we do not normally come into contact with in the course of our everyday experiences
July 22, 2012
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18. The Challenge of Complicated Images
What could make this graphic difficult to understand for your students?
Students are not always aware of illustrative techniques of using captions, changes in size of graphics “scale”, inferred relationship between the circles… **The teacher may need to point out the relationships
July 22, 2012
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19. Inner Conversations When Viewing a Model
An inner conversation takes place in the reader’s mind that is unique to him/her- just as that person draws from a unique set of prior experiences or background knowledge.
We construct meaning based on the building of connections between our own personal schema and the new information.
July 22, 2012
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20. Inner Conversations When Viewing a Model
As you view images, you have that “inner conversation” in your mind.
What am I seeing?
What does this image remind me of that I already know?
Have I seen this image or something like it before?
What is this illustration (model) trying to show me?
What is the purpose?
The viewer must be cognitively alert and actively engaged
July 22, 2012
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21. Table Top Twitter #... #... #... #... #Changes of State
#Boiling Point is O degrees Celcius
#...
#...
#...
July 22, 2012
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22. Thinking Hats
Small group discussion of science content images using “Thinking Hats”
July 22, 2012
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23. Danna Mitschke Science Specialist Region 6 ESC 936-435-8216 dmitschke@esc6.net
July 22, 2012
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