Page 95 - EdViewptsSpring2021

Visual Thinking Skills and

Elementary Students

By Dr. Sloan S. Scully, Principal, EJF Aldene Elementary School, Roselle
Park School District

It is almost impossible for literacy. Our students need to become second grade class in Roselle Park.
students of today to spend sophisticated viewers of images so Visual thinking lessons are based
they are best able to navigate the
on the VTS protocol as designed by
one day without having to visual worlds in which they live. It has Philip Yenawine of the Visual Thinking
interact with and interpret become imperative to shift from a Institute. VTS engages students in
purposeful looking at images with an
solely linguistic understanding of the
numerous visual images. world to one focused more on image emphasis on examining what he or
Daily, students are bombarded with meaning-making. she sees and making connections. At
omnipresent images from television, As educators, we can assist our its core, VTS is a process for students
to cell phones, computers, Instagram, students in making sense of the visual to discover what they can about
Twitter, video games, advertising, world in which they live and support an image. The process includes a
YouTube, TikTok, and more. We live them to develop their visual literacy. facilitator asking specifically designed
in a time that Kristie Fleckenstein Developing students’ visual thinking questions and guiding a discussion
describes as “…an era in which we capabilities can not only accomplish whose aim is to force students to look
are awash by multimodal imagery, this, but provide other benefits to carefully and reflect on what they have
2
inside and out,” For students to students as well. seen. Students take a few minutes
1
make accurate meaning of their During the course of the 2019-2020 to view an image before engaging in
visual surroundings requires skill in school year, I implemented Visual a discussion around three specific
“reading” visual images, or visual Thinking Skills (VTS) lessons with one research-tested questions.

Educational Viewpoints -93- Spring 2021