Elementary Teachers' Science Visual Literacy and Praxis: Reading and Teaching Science Images

• In Event: Science Teaching and Learning: Elementary Science Education

Abstract

In elementary science there are a complex variety of images or semiotics teachers and students need to understand. Young children require scaffolding and explicit instruction in order to become visually literate in science. Interviews with elementary teachers (n=6) found that they read semiotics much like they would ready text, from left to right. Half of the teachers interviewed instructed students to make observations and inferences from images and encouraged children to make their own visuals from preexisting semiotics. However, half of the teachers in this study did not describe teaching strategies. Instead of teaching students how to read the semiotics, they used visuals as optional content support. Implications for teacher education and professional development are discussed.

Author

• Michele Colandene, George Mason University