Wilson Summaries

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 Use of Visual Aides in the Modern Classroom

Visual aides have become important to the learning processes of children in all grades of school . From simple skits to enhanced computer calculations and comparisons , teachers everywhere are learning the power of having their students visualize and take part in what they are expected to learn . This process is a great departure from the classic learning model of reading along and taking notes , so it takes some teachers and faculty a while to accept and learn new styles of teaching

br The three articles that I have chosen show the value of visual aides in the classroom , but also note the difficulties of changing long held educational beliefs

You Gotta Have Art , by Roger Glass and Priscilla Nemeth , describes the impact of visual learning in classes around the United States . For example , in to visualize natural environments found in Florida , students were prompted to paint a mural on a school wall showing what they had learned in their science class . The mural was a way to learn as well as a point of pride to the children who helped create it (Glass Nemeth , 2003 , para . 5 . Other schools use a print of the city ' to teach local history and geography , instead of simply using a plain map . The print allows children to see the buildings and sites that they discuss in class , rather than just have the areas pointed out to them on a basic city map that includes only streets and symbols (Glass Nemeth , 2003 , para . 3 . The results have been more than anyone could have expected . Attendance and discipline have improved in the schools that promote visuals in the classroom , and scores on standardized tests have risen dramatically (Glass and Nemeth , 2003 para . 2 . It is apparent from this article that allowing children to see what is special about a subject , and also take part in projects that they can be proud of , encourages them to come to school interested and ready to learn

Talking Science , Modeling Scientists , by Elizabeth Edmondson William H . Leonard , Chris Peters , and Anna O . Baldwin , describes a program in place in South Carolina schools that lets the students learn visually in class and then share the knowledge with students in other schools who are learning the same lesson . Students were taught a science unit on electric circuits by such means as lighting a bulb with a battery , bulb , and wire , constructing a flashlight using a series or parallel circuit and switch , and designing and wiring a simple cardboard house (Edmondson , et al , 2006 ,

. 29 . The learning did not stop there . Students learned to write about what they had visually learned and then shared the information with student partners over a special system (Edmondson , et al , 2006 ,

. 30 . This system allowed students from each school to post questions and answers to each other by means of a dedicated message board (Edmondson , et al , 2006 ,

.30 . Students were encouraged...