Ray tracing is a method that allows the creation of photo-realistic images on a computer. This article describes a shareware ray tracing program called PovRay and includes some ideas on how PovRay can be used in teaching and in 3-D geometry, physics, and other high school and university subjects. (Author/AIM)

Encourages social studies teachers to use visual aids. Focuses on the use of charts and graphs in Japanese elementary social studies student textbooks, citing that few are used in U.S. textbooks. Describes four different types of charts and graphs used in the Japanese textbooks. (CMK)

Maintains that viewing and studying old photographs can acquaint young students with the skills of historical inquiry and help them conceptualize local and family history. Includes teaching tips, in-class activities, and suggested guest speakers. (MJP)

Presents a teaching experience with high school students in geometry class using hand signals that reinforce meaning of geometric concepts. (KHR)

Focuses on the British feature film, "Kes," and the British television series, "Grange Hill," as means of public education, ideology, and aesthetic subject matter. Concludes that these two mediums serve to remind us of the possibilities of film and television in promoting education growth and awareness in a public context. (MER)

Illustrates how to teach U.S. history through the use of original documents such as Charles Nickerson's cartoon, "Images of the Fifties from Disneyland to Suez." States that the original artwork for this cartoon, which portrays the Eisenhower years, is in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas. Provides a pretest, teaching…

Examines secondary school students' ability to interpret representations of three-dimensional objects including prototypes of component, perspective drawings, orthogonal views, descriptions by coordinates, verbal descriptions, and verbal quasi-descriptions. Students were given four identical wooden cubes and asked to construct the objects. Reports…

Discusses the use of semantic mapping in social studies as a means of conceptually organizing written material. Points out that this process is useful because it gives students an overview of the content prior to reading materials and provides an opportunity for students to develop visual images. Offers four examples. (KO)

Discusses the relationship between visual electronic media (e.g. television, film, and computers) and cognitive ability. Notes that language is now inseparable from its electronic media context, and that classroom activities should focus on active interaction with this media to encourage critical thinking. (MM)

Analyzed 112 advertisements in 4 Japanese magazines targeted at young men and 111 advertisements in 4 magazines targeted at young women. Results found that visual intimacy occurred in advertising substantially more often in young women's magazines than in young men's magazines, and that product-alone advertisements were targeted to young men more…

Printed advertisements from magazines and billboards, stored on slides, are recommended as fertile sources of cultural information for French language instruction. They create a simultaneous visual impact on all students, are easily stored and used, can be kept current, and promote communicative activities in the classroom. (11 references) (MSE)

A teaching method for introductory computer science based on visualization and using extensive amounts of software is explained. Visualization is used to integrate other student activities, including reading algorithm and data structure descriptions, studying code for model programs and toolkits, designing software components, and building or…

A technique is presented for teaching deaf students self-discipline along with useful idiomatic expressions. Idioms selected for study (such as "top dog,""in the doghouse,""sitting pretty," and "in hot water") are related to school rules, depicted on a bulletin board, and used to track classroom behavior.…

Examination of several interrelated topics on postage stamps, including their multiple functions and significance as semiotic artifacts, precedes suggestions for incorporating them into the Italian language curriculum in such activities as reading, writing, speaking, listening, and cultural understanding. (CB)

Examines the resilience of small languages in the face of larger ones. Highlights include the concept of one dominant language, such as Esperanto; the threat of television to small visual-language societies; the power of visual media; man's relationship to language; and the resilience of language. (LRW)