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Visual Literacy

If I can't picture it, I can't understand it.Albert Einstein

What is Visual Literacy?

Visual Literacy can be defined as the ability to understand and produce visual messages.

Why is Visual Literacy important?

• We live in an increasingly visual culture. We are surrounded by images everywhere in our lives.

• Visual literacy is a universal grammar: preverbal, sophisticated, intuitive, and cognitively challenging.

• It is a key element to communication – to create, use, and evaluate images.

Value of Visual Literacy

• Young people learn more than half of what they know from visual information.

• The majority of information absorbed by human beings is collected with our sense of vision.

• Visual tools provide base for constructivist learning and collaboration

• Digital literacies offer opportunities for visual learning

What does Visual Literacy include?

facial expressions, body language, drawing, paintings, sculptures, international symbols, picture book images, emotion, feelings, colour, graphics, cartoons, layout of the pictures and words in a textbook, the clarity of type fonts, computer images, photographs, sequences, movies or video, web sites, concept maps

Integrating visual literacy instruction into classroom curriculum begins by asking a few simple key questions to

engage and start the students critical thinking process.

What are you looking at? (Decode)

My Place traces the history of one small part of Australia and the people who have lived there, from the Dreaming until the present day

Understanding country and history in My Place

Visual LiteracyDisplay a variety of celebration pictures on the floor e.g. weddings, places of worship, parades traditional dress, community and sporting events. Share responses and discuss pictures. Consider:-what do you think is being celebrated?- do these pictures have anything in common e.g.

what is the same/different?-who is in the picture?-what special foods, decorations, gifts, clothing and greetings can you see?-where is the celebration happening? e.g. church, home, park, street-what time of year is it? e.g. winter, summer, snow, sunshine

List all the things you can see in the photograph:        

 What things in the photo let us know that there is a festival or celebration happening?  

  Photograph         

 

What facts can we write about the Celebration from viewing this photograph?

  What questions do we have about the Celebration viewing this photograph?  

     

Photo analysis chart