The complexity of science visual literacy education calls for a better understanding of elementary teacher visual literacy practices. Teachers play a key role in developing students' visual fluency through the visual literacy skills they develop in their pedagogical practices. Addressing these gaps in the research, this dissertation focused on the…

For decades, higher education institutions such as Yale, Harvard, and Penn State University have recognized the value of implementing visual literacy teaching strategies in seemingly the most unlikely of places: the classrooms of future medical professionals. These schools, and many others, require their medical students to partake in robust…

Visual-spatial literacy is an essential component to developing STEM literacy, which is a primary focus of the three-dimensional Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) framework for science education. Because scientific data is frequently communicated through visual representations, it is important for members of the current science and…

Motivation and engagement are often barriers to literacy for adolescent readers. Traditionally, the graphic novel has been seen as easy to read and a resource that only has value for students with language difficulties or learning challenges. This qualitative case study investigated how middle school readers' ability to make meaning contributed to…

Because the meaning of literacy is changing, teachers lack understanding of how to teach older students the skills they need to read and be proficient in an ever-changing digital world. Moreover, only 34% of U.S. 8th graders read at the proficient level, according to the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress. Therefore, the purpose of…

The primary goal of this study was to investigate, document, and understand the reasons that educators who use graphic novels in their classrooms choose to use them, rather than traditional text. Secondary goals were to identify the classes they teach, and to identify commonalities and shared best practices. Interviews were scheduled, to provide…

This dissertation is a phenomenological case study of two 12th grade English/language arts (ELA) classrooms where teachers used graphic novels with their advanced students. The primary purpose of this case study was to gain insight into the phenomenon of using graphic novels with these students--a research area that is currently limited.…