Learning Through Visual Thinking Strategies

From https://amoablog.wordpress.com and http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com, respectively

As a student-teacher, I have of course been exposed to various types of instructional strategies.  One in particular (which I found out later, had an actual name), involved the use of pictures where we were asked "What do you see in this picture?".  The picture depicted a setting that appeared to be an arts class, back in the mid-century era.  Of course, because this is an arts class and I'm a scientific, I didn't realize the significance of what we were doing.  However, it wasn't until later the next year, that I realized that using imagery in the classroom can be a very powerful way to elicit critical thought.

Visual Thinking Strategies (also called VTS) are inquiry-based teaching strategies that are becoming more popular these days.  They involve posting an image at the front of the class (either via a projector or smartboard) and asking students the following three (3) questions (refer to Murawski 2014 for more details):

1. What’s going on in this picture?
2. What do you see that makes you say that?
3. What more can we find?

Notice that these questions are open-ended, where there is no right or wrong?  This simple fact makes sharing of ideas more appealing to many students.  In other words, students feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts because there is no basis for judgement.  This in turn helps students 'gain greater confidence' in themselves (VTShome.org).

VTS engage students through whole class discussions, allowing students the opportunity to learn from each others' perspectives and creativities (Robertson, 2012).  This in turn exposes students to the reality that people have different ways of thinking and see the world differently than they do even though what they are looking at is fixed.  It also involves collaboration between students as they question each others' views to better understanding each others' thoughts.  This leads to the point that if VTS is used properly and consistently, students can learn to "respect and understand others' cultures and points of views" beyond the classroom environment (VTShome.org)

This strategy also provides a means to connect the lesson to real world issues, by inviting students to pause, observe and take note of details they see.  This allows them to expand their understanding and knowledge about real life and what's happening on an international level.  It allows them to make meaningful connections to truly understand the 'big picture' (Gonchar, 2015).  Similarly, VTS is a great way to assess prior knowledge while offering the opportunity to build on that prior knowledge to explore further.  As a result, students gain a better understanding of what is really happening in the world around them (VTShome.org).  Consequently, they will learn to be better critics of what they see in the mainstream media as well as in their immediate  micro- and macrosystems.

Although VTS appear to be an 'artsy' teaching method, they can be implemented in any content area classroom from kindergarten to grade 12.  Since I've realized the potential of using this strategy, I plan on making it a point to use it regularly as starter activities (hook) for my science lessons.  In fact, it could easily be coupled with STEM lessons!

If you use VTS in your classroom, please comment below with your most effective image(s) that you've used in your lesson(s).