Visual Literacy and Student Learning

Significant and substantial field expertise extols the value of integrating visual literacy experiences for children. Consider a few of the many conclusions from the following noted individuals and institutions:

• From Arizona State University: “Based on the idea that visual images are a language, visual literacy can be defined as the ability to understand and produce visual messages. Work in the field has centered on development of educational programs that train students' abilities to evaluate and create visual messages, as well as improvement of students' reading and writing skills through the use of visual literacy techniques. Visual literacy as a field of research, study, and teaching, becomes increasingly important with the ever-expanding proliferation of mass media in society. As more and more information and entertainment is acquired through non-print media (such as television), the ability to think critically and visually about the images presented becomes a crucial skill.” (Arizona State University, 2002, p. 1).

• In his website on Visual Literacy, Jamie McKenzie references Mary Alice White, a researcher at Columbia Teacher's College. She found that young people learn more than half of what they know from visual information, but few schools have an explicit curriculum to show students how to think critically about visual data (McKenzie, J., 1998, p. 1).

• The website of The National Council of Teachers of English cites a critical need for the development of visual literacy in language arts classrooms:

  • “Although we should attempt to preserve textual notions of literacy, it would be a breach of our duties as teachers for us to ignore the rhetorical power of visual displays. Visual forms of media, by themselves, and in combination with text and sound, come at our students from all directions, including television and the World Wide Web. The critical media literacy we need to teach must include evaluation of these media, lest our students fail to see, understand, and learn to harness the persuasive power of visual media. In supporting faculty development efforts in and public awareness of visual literacy, NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) meets a critical need in today's Language Arts classroom” (National Council for the Teachers of English, 1997, p. 1).       

• Visual Literacy researcher, Judy Baca summarized the importance of visual literacy: “In our increasing visually driven society, the ability to create and interpret imagery is as imperative as the abilities to read and write and to listen and speak. In addition to print, television, movies, and signs, young children deal on a daily basis with computers, educational video games, and the Internet-all media requiring a high degree of visual literacy to cope with a sometimes overwhelming amount of information. Baca's studies also reminds us that the use of "visuals" touches other areas, including thinking and learning, and constructing meaning” (Baca, J., Braden, R., 1990, p.1).

• E. Barbara Klemm and Marie K. Iding, researchers at the University of Hawaii, studied components used to develop visual literacy for science teaching and learning. They found that “visual data such as photographs, drawings, and schematics play a vital role in the scientific enterprise. In the everyday world icons, symbols, and signs are pervasive and powerful forms of visual communication. As children learn to read and write they do so with the aid of pictures and photographs (Klemm, E., Iding, M., 1997, p.1).

• Dr. Kimberly Moore, author and consultant in the field of early childhood, stated, “children use all their senses to learn. Through visual imagery, children identify numbers and letters, find meaning in concepts and ideas, develop critical thinking skills and so much more. Visual literacy is an important skill than can be used across the curriculum” (Moore, K., 2001, p.1)

• Finally, Robert Braden, California State at Chico, reported in the Handbook of Research for Educational Communications and Technology on research conducted in the field of visual literacy. His report summarizes the following findings:

  • “Most of what we perceive is perceived visually-perhaps three-quarters or more (Braden, R., 2001, p. 3)

  • “Seeing images and deriving meaning from them is both an act of perception and a necessary condition of visual literacy” (p. 3).

  • “Picture interpretation consists of two related and interdependent forms of behavior: observation and inference drawing” (p. 1).