Avoiding the "Visual Assault": Teachers' Pedagogical Skills that Support Student Science Visual Literacy

• In Event: Multimodal Mapping: Positioning, Representation, and Semiotic Cycles

Abstract

Experienced elementary teachers (n=6) were interviewed twice with a lesson observation in between interviews to understand how they support student learning with science visuals. Teachers described pedagogical approaches while reading various science images provided by the researcher and an image they commonly use in their instruction. Teachers videotaped themselves teaching a lesson with their chosen science image. The second interview consisted of a stimulate-recall of decisions made in the lesson. Four major pedagogical skills for supporting student science visual literacy were uncovered: Ability to select student accessible images, ability to understand how vocabulary should be incorporated into image design, use of multimodal teaching approaches to clarify design elements in science images, and use of scaffolding for reading the image.

Author

• Michele Colandene, George Mason University
  Presenting Author