Visual thinking is the use of images and text for understanding, creating, explaining, communicating, and problem solving. Visual Thinking Tools (VTT's) can be any tools that help students combine text and images to represent knowledge and ideas.
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| Visual Thinking Tools combine text and images. |
There are many types of visual thinking tools available for students, from concept maps and organizers that can be filled in by hand, to high powered apps and software that can be used on an array of devices. Many of these tools, like
Kidspiration and
Inspiration, are full-featured and have been around for a long time. Others, like the web 2.0 tools
Diagrammr and
WordSift are newer tools designed for more specific uses. Regardless of the tool, there is plenty of research to support the use of Visual Thinking Tools to visually represent information.
According to Robert Marzano et al. in Classroom Instruction the Works:
The more we use both systems of representation—linguistic
and non-linguistic—the better we are able to think about and recall knowledge.
This is particularly relevant to the classroom, because studies have
consistently shown that the primary way we present new knowledge to students is
linguistic. We either talk to them about the new content or have them read
about the new content (see Flanders, 1970). This means that students are
commonly left to their own devices to generate nonlinguistic representations.
When teachers help students in this kind of work, however, the effects on
achievement are strong. It has even been shown that explicitly engaging
students in the creation of nonlinguistic representations stimulates and
increases activity in the brain (see Gerlic & Jausovec, 1999). (Marzano,
Robert J., Debra J. Pickering, and Jane E. Pollock. "Nonlinguistic
Representations." Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-Based
Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement. Alexandria: ASCD, 2001. .
Print.)
Additionally, in the journal article: Reading and the
Brain: What Early Childhood Educators Need to Know, Nancy Frey and Douglas
Fisher observed:
(John) Medina (2008) argues that vision trumps all other
senses and is "probably the best single tool we have for learning
anything" (p. 233). In other words, visual stimuli will be attended to
over other stimuli most of the time, especially when the visual stimuli moves.
Medina argues that attending to visual information is a survival mechanism,
which is why it takes up so much neural real estate and resources (about 50%
according to Medina).
They go on to say:
But all visual information isn't equal. Pictures
consistently trump text or oral presentations. This is so common that cognitive
scientists have a name for it: pictorial superiority effect (Stenberg 2006).
For example, there is evidence that people can remember 2,500 pictures with
about 90 percent accuracy several days after seeing them (Standing et al.
1970). In another study, adults were able to recognize pictures of Dick and
Jane (from the readers) decades after they completed elementary school (Read
and Barnsley 1977). It's not just that pictures are easier to remember, they're
significantly more likely to be stored and much more likely to be retrieved. (Frey,
N., & Fisher, D. Reading and the Brain: What Early Childhood Educators Need
to Know. Early Childhood Education Journal, 103-110.)
Visual thinking tools help students structure their thinking
and provide a visual aid that can help depict the correlation between ideas,
facts, or concepts. These tools can also support students as they visually
organize and outline ideas to structure writing, and can improve communication
and expression.
The most common visual learning strategy is concept mapping.
Concept maps help students visualize various connections between words or
phrases and a main idea. While there are several types of concept maps, most
are comprised of words or phrases that are connected by lines back to a main
idea. These lines help students make meaning connections between the main idea
and other information.
Visual thinking tools can facilitate learning across
academic areas and benefit students of all ages and learning abilities. These
tools can be used for:
- building background knowledge (linking of new ideas to
previous knowledge)
- constructing knowledge (connecting ideas and concepts to
each other and to visuals)
- fostering and supporting collaboration
- creating a product (representing the conceptual structure of
knowledge)
- formative or summative assessment (to identify, monitor, and
communicate student understanding).
Visual thinking tools can be used to:
- plan and revise writing
- brainstorm and plan for writing, presentations, research
projects, or multimedia projects
- create an outline or hierarchical representation of
information
- demonstrate knowledge prior to and/or after a learning
task
- facilitate self-reflection and metacognition
- review a unit of study
- present learning in a visual manner
- express ideas and experiences
- compare and contrast ideas, and show relationships or
connections between ideas and/or information
- synthesize information into categories
- record and categorize information from multiple sources
- create an advanced organizer for note-taking in class and
for research projects
- assess students’ understanding of text, concepts, or
experiences by asking them to create a concept map of the information.
As assessors, our goal is to ensure that the conditions
exist whereby EVERY student in our classroom can best represent what they know,
understand, and can do, and for many (and perhaps all) students, Visual
Thinking Tools can provide a critical support in that regard.
Some Assessment Questions to Consider When Using VTT's:
- How can we use VTT's do determine that learning has
occurred?
- How can VTT's support the (specific) learners in my
classroom?
- How will we gather evidence of learning using VTT's?
- How can students use VTT's to practice skills and develop
understanding?
- How will students receive feedback on their VVT's?
- How will we use VTT's to provide formative assessment
evidence (in order to adjust instruction/learning)?
- How can VTT's be used as a final product for summative
assessment?
NOTE: The
Learning Technologies: Information for Teachers website has information and support materials for a number of different assistive technologies. Check it out!
Links to VTT's:
