Making Connections Beyond Text

Cindy Riedl
Aug 25, 2008

When our clan gets together, the first thing we do is update our family photo album that represents many years of expressions, dreams and events. The past becomes connected to the present as the stories are retold from generation to generation, causing those snap shots to come alive. Everyone looks for a personal connection: was life better then? Best of all, a history of survival, triumphs and tragedies is told first in brown and white still shots, then black and white and finally in living color. These photographs evoke a sense of mood and convey meaningful information that communicates far beyond any written description could, because the photos 'talk' to us.

Think beyond the family album. Could there be a similar connection to why many textbooks now include many photographs and other visuals in their chapters? Possibly a connection can also be drawn between the old adage, "a picture is worth a thousand words". After participating in an ASCD conference presentation conducted by several professors from a Copenhagen University, I discovered what a powerful learning experience can be attained by constructing meaning from photos and pictures. Think about the cognitive process that is set in motion when a photograph or picture becomes the focus. The mind automatically begins to question searching for meaning.

It is really elementary!  What happens almost automatically now relates to what happened when we experienced the primary grades and the picture walks we learned to take when we experienced new reading materials. We typically formed predictions about the story using our prior knowledge and the illustrations. Unfortunately students from the intermediate grades, as well as high school grade levels, often take the "quick trip" through a textbook, overlooking these rich sources of insight that can be found in pictures about the content, to simply glide through text and answer the questions at the end of the chapter.

This is why it is important for teachers to take the time to guide students through a thoughtful examination of photographs that can help students connect to concepts as was done in the "picture walks" of the past. The goal is to encourage students to examine pictures with a critical eye, as well as print, to process new learning using mental imagery. The mind has a tendency to store images, especially those that evoke powerful feelings, longer for easier retrieval. Besides utilizing the illustrations and other visuals in text books, teachers can create portfolios of outstanding illustrations and photography that will extend and expand important ideas and concepts of a unit of study. Some of the best photography can be located in vintage magazines that are stored in the basements or attics of second hand book stores.

For example, one of the most engaging examples of differentiated instruction was the launch activity for a unit of study about the 1950's. Each group received a portfolio of photographs, advertisements and newspaper articles. Although their tasks ranged from more support to greater challenge, each group had to construct support using the information they gathered about transportation, cultural differences, leisure activities, life styles, ethic and drama of that period of time. Students had to apply deductive reasoning skills as they searched for clues and patterns they experienced to make and present their positions in a variety of different formats. Talk about student engagement and invigorating challenge! Everyone was on board.

Instruction that extends surface thinking to a much deeper level should be the goal of every teacher at all grade levels. Using photographs during instruction engages the left side of the brain as it searches for connections and enhances the text, giving it richer meaning for the reader. Photos and pictures can also be extremely useful when introducing new vocabulary about a topic. The words and their meanings become embedded in the visuals that the mind remembers. This explains why Marzano stresses using imagery when students are learning new terms. Research continues to support his position. The latest research on imagery as elaboration states that students who used imagery to learn new vocabulary, on average, performed 37 percentile points higher than students who kept repeating the definitions and 21 percentile points higher than students who were using the terms in a sentence.

In summary, teachers can use photography and imagery to evoke a sense of mood and convey meaningful information that communicates far beyond any written description. It is worth the effort to explore the tangible reality that only photographs can express causing students to apply a higher level of thinking as they use deductive thinking skills to construct support for their generalizations. The results could be astounding!