Unless you are reading a novel or a serious report, you will probably see graphics in whatever you are reading. Pick up a magazine or newspaper and you can see that those publishers realize the importance of graphics in grabbing people's attention.
One of the things to be aware of in creating information for students is what is known as the contiguity principle. Clark and Mayer, in their 2003 textbook e-Learning and the Science of Instruction, give examples and rationale for this principle, which basically says to put graphics in close proximity with the text they illustrate.
When I read the original posting for this blog, I thought of my 7-year-old granddaughter's mathematics homework, where she had several graphics and she had to count how many items there were in each graphic and then write that number. That's one example of using graphics when teaching. What are some of the tricks that you have learned and are now incorporating into your teaching?
I should probably hold this comment until Cathy blogs on the subject, but there's no time like the present.
In recent years, I've been working with video as a communications tool for children.
During the summer of 2005, teachers at the Martin Luther King Jr. School Complex in Atlantic City learned about effective film making, literacy, and communications from Andy Carvin.
The following year as part of the STAR-W grant project, we used what Andy had taught in two projectst. The first was the Atlantic City Rough Cuts video blog and the second was the follow up project A.C.-Opoly, a video tour of Atlantic City based on Parker Brother's Monopoly.
When Andy presented, the content was not about how to use a camera and editing equipment, it was about the skills and concepts that students would need in order to communicate effectively using video.
I took much of what Andy taught us and with his kind permission, condensed it into two lessons that are part of a series of lessons on Cyber Safety and Information Literacy. If you visit the WiredLearning section of WiredSafety.org, you find links to Video Tips and Techniques and How to Make a PSA.
Visual and media literacy, technology and information literacy are all intertwined and represent a skill set that is critical to success in today's world.
Thanks, Cathy, for writing about this important topic.
3 comments:
Unless you are reading a novel or a serious report, you will probably see graphics in whatever you are reading. Pick up a magazine or newspaper and you can see that those publishers realize the importance of graphics in grabbing people's attention.
One of the things to be aware of in creating information for students is what is known as the contiguity principle. Clark and Mayer, in their 2003 textbook e-Learning and the Science of Instruction, give examples and rationale for this principle, which basically says to put graphics in close proximity with the text they illustrate.
When I read the original posting for this blog, I thought of my 7-year-old granddaughter's mathematics homework, where she had several graphics and she had to count how many items there were in each graphic and then write that number. That's one example of using graphics when teaching. What are some of the tricks that you have learned and are now incorporating into your teaching?
I should probably hold this comment until Cathy blogs on the subject, but there's no time like the present.
In recent years, I've been working with video as a communications tool for children.
During the summer of 2005, teachers at the Martin Luther King Jr. School Complex in Atlantic City learned about effective film making, literacy, and communications from Andy Carvin.
The following year as part of the STAR-W grant project, we used what Andy had taught in two projectst. The first was the Atlantic City Rough Cuts video blog and the second was the follow up project A.C.-Opoly, a video tour of Atlantic City based on Parker Brother's Monopoly.
When Andy presented, the content was not about how to use a camera and editing equipment, it was about the skills and concepts that students would need in order to communicate effectively using video.
I took much of what Andy taught us and with his kind permission, condensed it into two lessons that are part of a series of lessons on Cyber Safety and Information Literacy. If you visit the WiredLearning section of WiredSafety.org, you find links to Video Tips and Techniques and How to Make a PSA.
Visual and media literacy, technology and information literacy are all intertwined and represent a skill set that is critical to success in today's world.
Thanks, Cathy, for writing about this important topic.
Art
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