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##  Visual Literacy and Learning in Science. ERIC Digest.                        

In our visually oriented age, science and technology education rely             heavily on the use of pictures to present technical information.                Today's students live in an information environment saturated with              visual images, and educational materials are no exception.  Because             educational materials must compete for attention in this rich visual            environment, all types of teaching resources from traditional                   textbooks to the latest educational technologies contain a wealth of            pictorial representations. In science and technology education these            pictures are very diverse, ranging from realistic drawings and                  photographs to highly abstract diagrams and graphs. The educational             emphasis on pictures reflects the widespread use of technical                   pictures by practicing scientists and technologists across many                 different fields. 
The use of pictures to represent technical                  subject matter is not new. Ancient pictures from many different                 countries show that visual information has long been an important               means of communicating ideas about our world and how it works.                  However in more recent times, there has been an explosion in the                number of specialized types of graphics developed to represent                  scientific and technological information. These specialist                      representations can provide critical information about the state of             our world that may have enormous social and economic implications               for its peoples. For example, the science of meteorology relies                 heavily on traditional weather map diagrams as well as more modern              remote sensing imaging techniques. 
Technological advances,                    particularly in computing, continually increase the range of imaging            techniques that are available to the scientific community. The                  burgeoning use of pictorial representation has implications for                 science and technology education. The capacities to both understand             and generate technical pictures are fundamental to scientific and               technological literacy for students at many levels, from school to              university. We could describe these capacities as a form of visual              literacy that involves the "reading "and "writing "of technical                 pictures. It is just as important for students to develop this                  visual aspect of scientific and technological literacy as it is for             them to develop the general literacy required to understand the                 specialized verbal and mathematical languages they encounter in                 science. Successful reading of a highly abstract scientific diagram             requires very different skills from those required for reading                  ordinary pictures of everyday content such as photographs in a                  newspaper or illustrations in a shopping catalogue. This means it is            essential that today's students develop the general visual literacy             skills required for dealing with scientific graphics, but they must             also learn about particular types of scientific pictures that                   actually form part of the content of a specific field of scientific             or technological study. VISUAL LANGUAGEThe ways pictures are              used in everyday life can give the misleading impression that visual            language is somehow generally much easier to understand and more                universal than verbal or mathematical language. For example,                    international airports all around the world use various graphic                 symbols to present information to people from many different                    language groups. By avoiding the need for multiple translations,                these graphics greatly simplify the task of conveying fundamental               information. However, this information concerns basic, everyday                 matters that people in general are familiar with and represents them            in a very straightforward way. In contrast, the forms of visual                 information that scientists and technologists use are far more                  complex and esoteric. The specialized nature of scientific                      visualizations means that people do not learn to deal with them as              an incidental result of their normal interaction with the everyday              environment. Rather, they must engage in specific learning                      activities that help them to develop the knowledge and skills                   required to interpret these very particular types of visual                     representation. Part of the reason for this is that the content                 depicted in these visuals is quite unfamiliar to everyone except                specialists in the scientific field concerned. However, there are               also aspects of how content is depicted that make these                         visualizations challenging for the uninitiated. In particular, the              depiction of the subject matter in scientific visuals is often not              meant to be taken literally. Rather, diagrams and other technical               illustrations depict their content using a host of specialized                  graphic conventions that extensively manipulate and even grossly                distort literal reality. To interpret these pictures properly, the              viewer must know about these conventions and be skilled in decoding             them in an appropriate manner. DEVELOPING VISUAL                              LITERACYTeachers must develop students' capacities to understand            and properly interpret specialized technical visuals. Teaching of               the necessary knowledge and skills should begin when children are               quite young, even before they begin formal studies of science and               technology. One approach is to introduce young children to graphic              conventions that are widely used in depictions such as scientific               diagrams by having them devise simple drawings that actually use                these conventions. However, rather than illustrating unfamiliar                 scientific topics, this should be done in the context of everyday               subject matter. In other words, the content of the visuals would be             very familiar to the students, but the way it is to be depicted                 would be highly diagrammatic. For example, teachers could guide                 students through a number of stages to help them develop their own              diagrams of a simple commonplace object such as a piece of fruit.               Starting with the real object, the teacher could show students how              to use a range of diagram techniques to devise a picture that                   communicates information about the object in a scientific manner.               So, if a teacher decided to use an orange as the subject matter for             a diagram-drawing exercise, one of the things that could be done is             to introduce students to the idea of a cross-sectional view. This is            a technique widely used in scientific and technological diagrams as             a way of indicating internal structures that are normally hidden                from view. It is a simple matter to cut the orange in half, place               one of the halves cut-face down on a photocopier to produce a                   photo-like image of the inside of the fruit. This photocopy could be            the starting point for students to gradually modify the image in                order to produce a more diagrammatic depiction. This would involve              processes such as simplifying the image into a line drawing,                    omitting unnecessary detail, removing natural irregularities to                 produce a more 'geometric' result, and identifying key parts of the             structure by means of shading or color coding. Initial activities of            this type could be followed by using objects for which dynamic                  change as well as structure must be depicted. For example, a simple             device such as a plastic garden irrigation tap could be dismantled              and its functioning represented diagrammatically. This type of                  exercise could be used to show how other diagram conventions such as            arrows, dotted lines and sequential pictures can be combined with               the cross-sectional convention covered in the previous example.                 Where aspects of the subject matter would be artistically difficult             for young students to draw by themselves, teachers could provide                partly-drawn pictures so that students have only to add simple lines            and shapes to complete the representation. Alternatively, teachers              could provide a "kit" of pre-drawn pieces for the diagram which                 students would then assemble into a finished product. 
Having                  children devise their own "technical pictures" requires a                       significant change in the way drawing is typically treated in                   elementary school. In most classrooms, children either copy pictures            provided by the teacher or textbook, or draw their own pictures as a            means of self- expression, Rarely are they asked to produce original            drawings that provide the type of clear and precise visual                      explanation that is found in technical diagrams. However, it is                 unreasonable to expect students to acquire all the required                     capacities for dealing with technical diagrams by such drawing                  exercises alone. As students move into formal studies of science,               there are occasions when the teacher needs to present them with                 ready-made diagrams as well as other forms of scientific image. In              these cases, students' capacities for dealing with technical                    pictures are more likely to be developed if extensive scaffolding is            provided by the teacher. For example, instead of requiring students             to copy down a finished diagram, the teacher could gradually build              up the depiction piece by piece in a way that emphasizes the logic              of the subject matter. The value of this sequential type of approach            would be further enhanced by accompanying the drawing process with a            suitable commentary and questioning that emphasizes key aspects of              the subject matter. On many occasions, students are faced with a                technical picture in a textbook or other resource that is intended              to explain the to-be-learned content. However, these pictures are               often quite difficult for students to interpret effectively because             they do not know how to read  such pictures effectively. Just                   because teachers have no trouble reading a picture, we should not               assume that it is equally comprehensible to students. Teachers                  should consider providing quite explicit guidance to direct their               students through the information that is depicted so they explore               the picture in detail and develop an understanding of its internal              logic. Supplementary exercises based on an existing picture but                 which require students to analyze, elaborate or modify the original             in various ways can also help to improve                                        comprehension. CONCLUSIONVisual literacy is an essential                  component of science and technology education today. However, it is             an aspect of learning that is relatively neglected by teachers. One             reason is that teachers generally assume that pictures are                      self-explanatory and always function to make their subject matter               easier. Unfortunately, comprehension of the specialized pictures                used in technical fields requires knowledge and skills far beyond               those required for everyday pictures. In order for teachers to                  address this neglected aspect of science and technology education,              they need both a better appreciation of the demands of technical                pictures and a knowledge of teaching strategies that will help to               develop students' visual literacies in this area. Science teacher               education should cover this topic, but support is also needed for               experienced science and technology teachers. At present, resources              to help teachers develop visual literacy are limited, and there is a            great need for further work to develop practical teaching strategies            and resources. FOR FURTHER INFORMATIONLowe,                               R.K. (1993). "Successful instructional diagrams." London: Kogan                 Page. 
Lowe, R.K. (1993). Scientific diagrams: How well can                    students read them? In  B. Fraser (Ed.), "Research implications for             science and mathematics teachers," (Vol. I, pp. 14-19) Perth:                   National Key Centre for School Science and Mathematics. 
Lowe,                 R.K. (1996). Pictorial information design for schools. "Information             Design Journal," 8, 233-243. 
Lowe, R.K. (1996). Les nouvelles                 technologies, voie royale pour ameliorer l'apprentissage des                    sciences par l'image ? ASTER, "Recherches en didactique des science             experimentales," 22, 173-194. 
Lowe, R.K. (1997) How much are                  pictures worth? "Proceedings of the Putting You in the Picture                  Symposium," University of Newcastle, 20-24. 
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Note. Other               work in this area can be located by searching the ERIC database                 online (www.askeric.org) using various combinations of the following            descriptors: visual literacy, science education, science curriculum,            science activities, and science instruction. 
This digest was                  funded by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S.              Department of Education, under contract no. ED-99-CO-0024. Opinions             expressed in this digest do not necessarily reflect the positions or            policies of OERI or the U.S. Department of Education.                        **Title:** Visual Literacy and Learning in Science. ERIC Digest.                        **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC/CSMEE, 1929 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1080. Tel:                      800-276-0462 (Toll Free); e-mail: [email protected]; Web site:                     http://www.ericse.org.                                                       **Descriptors:** Elementary Secondary Education, Higher Education,  Science                      Education,  Scientific Literacy,  Visual Literacy,  Visualization            **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests                                                                 
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