In the field of communication studies, an understanding of the relationship between form and genre is essential for mastering both practical skills and theoretical concepts in core courses such as public speaking, communication theory, and rhetorical criticism. Building on scholarship on the visual politics of presidential portraiture, this…

The Instagram Activism Slideshow helps undergraduate students bridge theory and practice by connecting the media arguments they see in their daily lives to the principles of policy argument they learn in argumentation courses. Students use a relevant argumentation theory or concept to argue for a public policy in a concise and palatable Instagram…

This lesson plan describes the application of a photo essay technique for landscape interpretation in an interdisciplinary instructor-led international field course. This lesson is, in practice, a field-based exercise or learning activity that asks students to engage in three foundational approaches to place-based landscape reading:…

Courses: Visual Rhetoric, Visual Communication, Multiplatform Journalism, Advertising, Journalism, Public Relations. Objective: This unit activity requires that students analyze and produce imagery with the help of semiotic theory. Students will: (1) learn to connect theory with practice holistically by simultaneously practicing visual analysis…

This guide provides ideas for class and personal exercises using the research findings from the second report in the two-part series, "Visual Messaging of the Coronavirus News Story." The ideas and prompts in the guide are for different steps of inquiry and were designed to build news literacy and strengthen information agency using the…

Experts in public health and education alike have long advocated for the engagement of youth in nature to foster movement, human-nature connectedness, and mental wellbeing. Physical and health education teachers in school-based programs continue to find a variety of ways to help their students be physically active in the natural environment due to…

Using current and historical data, the U.S. Census Bureau offers geography teachers activities with resources to use in the classroom. The activities are aligned to the National Geography Standards (2012) and provide real-world data examples while teaching concepts such as environmental changes and population changes. In a geography activity for…

In this photo elicitation assignment, each student must take, select, and interpret a picture about a social issue that he/she has learned about in class. The student must then craft either a sensory poem, or answer the SHOWeD questions as designed by Shaffer and modified by Wang, which facilitates the student's interpretation of the picture. As a…

In this semester-long activity, I describe how to create a collaborative cabinet of curiosities that engages critical methods of inquiry as an alternative summative assignment. Courses: Communication Pedagogy, Gender and Communication, Performance Studies. Objective: The objective of this assignment is for students to identify and analyze how…

In this story collected and shared as part of the OurStoryBridge online short-form oral history project from the Tremonton City Library in Tremonton, Utah, Parry recalls learning Shoshone history and culture from stories that his grandmother, Mae Timbimboo, told him. Parry recounts his excitement in elementary school when he heard that Shoshone…

Courses: Qualitative research methods, health communication, organizational communication, or any course that could incorporate advocacy or social change into the content area. Objectives: On completion of this assignment, students will (1) understand why and how action research is undertaken; (2) develop skill in perceiving and representing the…

Improving the mathematical experiences of students depends on teachers' commitment and support for reflecting on and learning from their classroom teaching experience. In this article, the authors invite readers to consider using classroom photographs as tools for learning in a professional learning community (PLC) and perhaps as a stepping…

This column discusses resources and science topics related to students in grades preK to 2. This month's issue provides an activity on documentation panels to encourage students to reflect on their actions and thought processes. Young students benefit enormously from visual aids. Documentation panels--chronological arrangements of photos, student…

Movies are mostly viewed for entertainment. Mixing entertainment and physics gets students excited as we look at a famous movie scene from a different point of view. The following is a link to a fragment from the 2010 motion picture "Inception": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3tBBhYJeAw. The following problem, based on images in facing…

You likely have dreams for your early childhood environment that are greater than rating scales, regulations, and room arrangements. "Designs for Living and Learning" has been a favorite resource among educators and caregivers for more than a decade, and this new edition is packed with even more ideas that can be used as you create…