Visual sequences should be the first visual literacy exercises for reasons that are physio-psychological, semantic, and curricular. In infancy, vision is undifferentiated and undetailed. The number of details a child sees increases with age. Therefore, a series of pictures, rather than one photograph which tells a whole story, is more appropriate…

Children growing up in this technological age need to develop nonverbal communication skills as well as verbal skills. The authors review the importance of various types of visual communication and visual literacy, and suggest projects for classes or individuals using cameras, films, and other media to stimulate visual communication skills. (AV)

Children at the preoperational and concrete operational levels are influenced by a variety of perceptual cues other than subject matter when classifying paintings. While younger children had little difficulty in classifying paintings done in three stylistic categories, older children were able to perform this task with significantly greater…

A resume of the courses taught by the Centre for film and television education at all levels of education. It is also valuable for the training of visual perception in general. (Author/HB)

Children must learn to discriminate among the visual stimuli they experience and to recognize the existence of a visual language. Learning activities to help young children develop a sense of visual literacy are suggested. (PP)

An argument for increased attention to visual literacy, both as a research topic and in the classroom. (RL)

Visual reasoning is an essential skill for engineers. This article describes an interactive multimedia application (Visual Reasoning Tutor) that provides a foundation in visual reasoning by exploiting the missing view problem. Presents an overview of system components, a complete sample exercise, and test results for several prototypes used in…

Describes a college teaching experience in which active visual analysis (hands-on deconstruction of visual statements to their constituent elements and principles) had an unblocking effect on concomitant writing assignments. Suggests that students can improve both verbal and visual articulateness when modes of perceiving and thinking are used…

In this age of proliferating visual communications, there is a permissiveness in subject matter, content, and meaning that is exhilarating, yet overwhelming to interpret in a meaningful or consensual way. By recognizing visual statements, whether a piece of sculpture, an advertisement, a video, or a building, as communication, one can approach…

This paper examines how visual information strategies may be used to facilitate the development of mental models. Topics covered include: definition of mental models; mental models and visual information; mental modeling concepts; power of modeling, including examples related to physical science, mathematics, writing, and depth of processing;…

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…

The term "visual literacy" generally refers to the interpretation of the formal structure of film or television and carries with it the notion that the interpreter has knowledge of the use of camera angles, lighting, flashbacks, and so forth. However, many visual conventions encountered in movies or television may be interpreted even by…

This report describes the uses of visual literacy programs in the schools and outlines four categories for incorporating training in visual thinking into school curriculums as part of the back to basics movement in education. The report recommends that curriculum writers include materials pertaining to: (1) reading visual language and…

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…

Because understanding pictures is a significant aid to readers, this paper explores research on picture interpretation. The paper describes the complexity of the process and states that the ability to interpret pictures seems to proceed from the simple to the complex: from concrete experiences with pictures to the abstract interpretation of…