The puzzling quality of modern art, in both its complexity and its simplicity, symbolizes a barrier between the student and the elite's privilege of power. Too frequently, students have been taught that art is a secret, a code to which only teachers have the key, and that there is only one correct interpretation of a work, which must be imparted…

One use of television in the two-year college classroom is to help students to deal with inferences. An inferencing exercise that students have generally enjoyed is watching television for a certain length of time at home and taking accurate notes of the commercials. Then, each student pretends to be a space creature who has just landed and seen…

The goal of an introductory graphics course is fundamental visual literacy, which includes learning to appreciate the power of visuals in communication and to express ideas visually. Traditional principles of design--the focus of the course--are based on more fundamental gestalt theory, which relates to human pattern-seeking behavior, particularly…

Ninety-four children, aged 5 to 12 years, were subjects of a study of recall of television literacy messages (drop-ins). The 30-second "How To Watch TV" (HTWTV) segments were designed for broadcast on Saturday mornings by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) to convey to children some information and values about television (e.g., animals do…

A study on visual literacy in children explored such questions as: (1) how a visual literacy curriculum might be structured; and (2) whether, when students participate in a visual literacy program, they consequently say or write more, and whether what they have to say is more insightful. During the experiences, children talked and wrote about…

This report focuses on the visual component of verbo-visual literacy, a communications concept involving the production, transmission, and perception of verbal and visual images. Five current problem areas in verbal-visual research are introduced and discussed: (1) communication (communication models, media consumption, new media, the information…

These proceedings include papers presented and summarize information and ideas exchanged by teachers and educators concerned with the development of media studies in all sectors of education in Scotland at a 1-day conference. The first part of the conference considered the nature and concept of media studies and the degree to which such studies…

The 11 papers in this collection focus on research in instructional television, the theme of a conference attended by media producers, researchers, and policy makers from Australia, Britain, Canada, France, West Germany, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the United States. The opening paper by Deane Hutton discusses two parallel but contrasting…

Reflecting the theories and practices of effective teachers who use a cross-disciplinary approach to enhance writing instruction, this collection of essays is designed to make writing teachers aware of the various possibilities for using film in their classrooms. The ten essays focus on the following topics: (1) combining essay reading and writing…

In terms of direct experience, students are limited to their immediate environment--unless that environment is expanded. A school of global education was therefore developed in the Livonia Public Schools (Michigan) to identify and implement ways by which this sought-after awareness could be incorporated into a secondary school multidisciplinary…

A study of the cognitive aspects of children's television watching addressed the following questions: To what degree is processing capability mediated by one's attentional set, as opposed to skills that one brings to the viewing situation? If attention is a significant mediating factor, is this true across various kinds of information one can…

This report of a study which explored the effects of camera use among 30 children in a biracial multi-aged classroom includes suggestions for the application of the findings in early childhood curriculum. The first two chapters present the purpose, rationale, and measured results of an examination of camera use as a tool for inquiry and…

This document briefly reviews four areas of educational inquiry. The first section is concerned with definitions of the terms "spatial ability" and "visual imagery"; the second is concerned with training studies in which attempts have been made to improve spatial ability or to encourage greater use of visual imagery in problem…

The focus of this paper is on the developing role of the still camera in the general scheme of education, and within the overall concept of visual literacy. A rationale and a workable definition for visual literacy are presented, together with a brief history of the visual message from the paintings on the walls of caves to the modern Land camera.…

The connectionist theory of brain functioning, which holds that specialization exists within the brain, has three implications for teachers of nonverbal communication. One implication involves the relative emphasis to be placed on linguistic/linear versus nonlinguistic/nonlinear mental processing. Teachers can shift emphasis to nonlinguistic…