Visual literacy is essential for engineers. Technological professions have important visual characterization, both in the transmission of information and problem-solving. This means that future engineers must be proficient at communicating, thinking, and learning visually. However, engineering curricula takes partially the need to have visually…

Using geographic information systems (GIS), spatial data, and web mapping tools to enrich teaching and learning in geography courses is an effective way to integrate critical thinking and spatial analysis into the classroom (or virtual classroom). This lesson describes mapping song lyrics through ArcGIS Online. It explores how students analyze and…

Public art installations are part of university campuses across the United States, and these installations can be useful in teaching important geographic concepts, skills, and geovisualization techniques. Using public on-campus art resources in geography classes can both enhance student learning of important geography content, themes, and…

"In many ways, images are the vehicle of comprehension, thought, and action. We integrate parts of images, we remember images, we manipulate images." This quote from James E. Zull clarifies the rationale for a discussion protocol called Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), in which teachers focus students' attention on an image and ask…

"Visual Thinking Strategies for Preschool" shows how teachers can add visual thinking strategies (VTS) to their existing curriculum to encourage language, critical thinking, and social skills for children ages three to five. In this sequel to his popular book, "Visual Thinking Strategies" (ED568850), author Philip Yenawine…

Geometry belongs to branches of mathematics that develop students' visualisation, intuition, critical thinking, problem solving, deductive reasoning, logical argument and proof (Jones, 2002). It provides the basis for the development of spatial sense and plays an important role in acquiring advanced knowledge in science, technology, engineering,…

Four reading strategies and several web tools that are effective for reading closely and identifying textual evidence are described and explained. As teacher-educators with many years of experience teaching reading and the language arts, we have found these reading strategies and web tools helpful for middle school students as they consider…

"What's going on in this picture?" With this one question and a carefully chosen work of art, teachers can start their students down a path toward deeper learning and other skills now encouraged by the Common Core State Standards. The Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) teaching method has been successfully implemented in schools,…

The ability to understand a speaker's or author's worldview better, whether an openly espoused ideology or one veiled and deeply hidden, should help students hone their critical thinking skills. This article describes an activity which attempts to do just that by applying new data visualization methods to a rhetorical artifact and examining the…

Drawing on cartography, urban design and visual data modelling, we consider how people navigate, or fail to navigate, the mental, physical and social spaces of knowledge communities. Cartographically inspired critical thinking offers opportunities to re-examine the assumptions and formal maps of post-secondary institutions, visualizing…

This paper purports to demonstrate a problem solving case in the course of the development of methodology, in which the quality of the negotiation practicum is maintained or raised without sacrificing the class contact hours for the lessons for reading comprehension skills, on which the essence of negotiation practicum is solely based. In this…

Talk is the foundation for thought and understanding and the key to literacy learning. Research demonstrates that powerful metacognitive strategies can be taught to help students self-monitor their comprehension when reading print and digital texts. This article provides a repertoire of speaking and listening strategies to develop the…

The idea of problem posing is not new, but it has received increased attention in light of new approaches to mathematics education. Mathematical problem posing builds on young children's natural curiosity. It promotes children's "engagement in authentic mathematical activity"; enables children to "encounter many problems, methods, and solutions…

Noting the National Reading Panel's suggestions on assessing and improving children's phonemic awareness, this paper discusses how reading can be improved through think-alouds and visualizations. Comprehension strategies that teachers can model during think-alouds are: activating prior knowledge; building vocabulary; determining importance;…

This document presents a demonstration of how drawing affects writing, how writing affects drawing, and how both affect the thinking process of students. The third grade students participating in the studies were selected on the basis of their prior performance in reading and mathematics and their identified potential for achievement. The students…