To reduce the lag between highly visual texts in elementary classrooms and a lack of emphasis on visual literacy in teacher preparation, this study explored preservice teachers' coding in the design of a visually-enhanced digital book. A qualitative case study shaped the research design and data collection, including ten digital book artifacts and…

Theory of mind skills are critical to understanding and interpreting many illustrations in primary school literature especially those which are used in material for the purpose of learning to read. Unfortunately, children who learn to read at an early age as well as mainstreamed children, such as those with autism, often have grave deficiencies in…

Textbooks do not only offer information on specific topics and delineate competence development but provide insights into a society's socio-cultural norms and values by means of representations. In particular, this refers to the diversity with which classrooms, groups of friends and families are depicted in textbooks. The contribution at hand…

Although students and adults alike are constantly exposed to visuals both online and offline, merely being exposed to visuals does not guarantee visual literacy (Kedra & Zakeviciute, 2019). This study explored K12 teachers' perceptions regarding their personal and instructional use of online images as well as the influence of a visual literacy…

This article demonstrates how Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) art discussions and subsequent, inspired artmaking can help reach the goals of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, & Technical Subjects (CCSS-ELA). The authors describe how this was achieved in a remedial…

This article examines assessment of students' visual literacy. In the context of current theory of multimodal texts, the author presents key features for visual literacy assessment and how this assessment might be undertaken. The article then proposes a set of principles and a framework for developing assessment tasks in authentic classroom…

This article explores one context in which language arts instruction can be enhanced through digital technologies. It describes how preservice elementary education teachers first investigated aspects of visual literacy and then engaged in digital and traditional multimodal forms of response to historical nonfiction literature. They read,…

Care providers can help develop visual literacy in school-age children by taking children on trips to local art museums and television stations and by having children produce their own low-cost photographs, color slides, or film strips. Provides detailed directions for making slides from magazine photographs and new film strips from old film. (MDM)

Analysis did not show significant differences between watching one or two sound films with regard to information retention. (KS)

Suggests that pictures offer equality of access to texts for all children, and provide an effective medium for promoting discussion and reflection. Finds that children are able to develop skills of metacognition through talking about a pictorial text--children as young as six are able to demonstrate their understandings of the reading process. (RS)

A visual literacy project to explore how children who have had no experience or instruction in the use of television would use the technology as a communication medium is discussed. One second and one fourth grade class were chosen to prepare three videotape "letters" communicating to their counterparts in another school information about their…

Encourages teachers or school librarians to conduct a lesson in visual literacy by having children examine book design. Discusses book jackets and endpapers as book design elements, and highlights illustrations from five children's picture books. (PEN)

This brief history of the development of alphabet books includes a list of alphabet books for elementary and middle school children. A strategy for the use of these books in class involves these steps: choose books; set a purpose; introduce books; read them; describe them; compare and contrast them; evaluate them; and compose your own books. (DG)