Visual Literacy - Essay Example

Visual literacy is the ability to recognize and understand suggestions presented through actions or some visible images inform of pictures. There are two major strategies used to teach visual literacy that is important and of use especially for teachers in the classrooms. Teachers for visual literacy mostly use multimedia and literature. Multimedia works in a way that there are songs chosen meant for usage as a device in the classroom, and videos. Videos are significant as a visual literacy tool as they help in displaying the images used for learning. Literature as the second tool helps a lot in the classroom through the use of big books, environmental print and even showing illustrations to put across important information. Boards that work with felt pens on them help a lot in displaying some images in the classroom. Other features used include picture dictionaries and symbols. These two major strategies help in displaying pictures and visual images for visual literacy.

            Visuals play a vital role in learning because they help the students in understanding and memorizing the lesson learned in class. When teachers use pictures to help students learn, the images stick in the children’s minds and help them in memorizing the lesson. Younger children are also more conversant with pictures than words, therefore, introducing visuals in learning increases their level of understanding of the subject matter, increases their interest and motivation, helps in critical thinking, and also in improving their comprehension.

            Advantages of visuals include the involvement of visual literacy within classrooms that offer help to students in terms of organizing their thoughts and understanding of information. Students using maps and timelines gain more information for the identification of certain areas that perhaps they need to explore. Putting information in form of a diagram makes it easier the understand the factual statements, other than using theories for explanations. Visuals have enabled all these and therefore made the student's work easier (Smaldino, Lowther, and Russell, 2012). There are disadvantages of visual literacy and some disadvantages come with visual literacy; the number of respondents that are participating in the survey may fail to show up making the target number decrease below average. The survey normally has a problem, as most respondents do not give full information, resulting in an incomplete data analysis, that generally disqualifies the survey process, therefore making it a waste of time.

            Integration for visuals occurs in the brain to produce final content that helps with visual awareness. There are different techniques for visuals used that include proprioceptive calming techniques. This technique involves the muscles and joints receiving the input and has other ways of impacting it through deep pressure. Proprioceptive is an active technique for the child when participating in some activity like heavy muscles (Smaldino, Lowther and Russell, 2012). General examples of the techniques include squeezing the stress ball or chewing a special toy gum to help reduce pressure. Another technique is visual calming which deals with avoidance of the bright and direct light. Bright light from the sun streams in and makes it dangerous to see clearly. However, children that are sensory defensive will gain by sitting on the side of the room to see what is coming prior, to avoid surprises. Examples of the techniques used can be a reduction of overstimulation by ensuring the room is free from posters and clutter. Another strategy for these techniques is maintaining eye contact with the child so that they focus on the instructions you are giving.