Synectics is an approach to creative thinking that depends on understanding together that which is apparently different. Its main tool is analogy or metaphor. The approach, which is often used by groups, can help students develop creative responses to problem solving, to retain new information, to assist in generating writing, and to explore…

One theoretical model for understanding the visual event suggests that a visual event has both a surface (descriptive) and a deeper (experience) level of understanding. Both levels are needed to comprehend and appreciate images, with each level affecting the other. A person's perspective is an important part of the visual event, which depends upon…

This 535-page document includes more than 60 papers presented at the 20th Annual Conference of the Visual Literacy Association. Topics cover a wide range of visual literacy interests: computer generated graphics, message design, desktop publishing, photography, critical viewing skills, memory enhancement, and the development of visual…

Describes virtual realities as environments in which visual, aural, or other stimuli generate in the mind of the user a sense of navigable, frameless, three-dimensional space, and predicts that the availability of computer technology to create real-time, three-dimensional graphics will bring radical changes in the educational use of visualization…

An historical review of definitions of visual literacy is summarized by the statement, "the transmission of meaning visually is what visual literacy is all about." To be visually literate is to be able to gain meaning from what we see and to be able to communicate meaning to others through the images we create. Three assumptions, taken from the…

Discusses importance of the ability to visualize images evoked by the written word in the development of children's skills in both reading and creative writing. Specific skills involved are noted, examples from picture books are given, and 48 picture books that would be useful to developing such skills are listed. (EM)

The 40 papers in this collection cover a wide variety of topics within the broad field of visual literacy. Three preliminary papers discuss visualization through film. The second section, which emphasizes visualization in a social context, contains 10 papers addressing cultural, political, social, and psychological issues, touching upon such…

It is proposed that visual literacy be defined as the ability to understand (read) and use (write) images and to think and learn in terms of images. This definition includes three basic principles: (1) visuals are a language and thus analogous to verbal language; (2) a visually literate person should be able to understand (read) images and use…

One approach to the study of the televised image is through the combination of signs, created through production choices. Just as a linguistic sign does not carry exclusively the thoughts of its author but interposes its own material form (thus affecting reading of the text), so does the production choice (technique) infect the thought of the…

Visual literacy encompasses the ability to generate and make use of visual images to develop or clarify ideas, as a tool both for conveying information and for creative expression. The usefulness of visual thinking in study skills, problem solving, and living in an increasingly visual society is stressed. (Author/JDD)

Visualization as a factor of intelligence includes the mental manipulation of spatial configurations and has been associated with spatial abilities, creative thinking, and conceptual problem solving. There are numerous reports of scientists and mathematicians using visualization to anticipate transformation of the external world. Artists and…