Engagement and Skill Development in Biology Students through Analysis of Art

An activity involving analysis of art in biology courses was designed with the goals of piquing undergraduates’ curiosity, broadening the ways in which college students meaningfully engage with course content and concepts, and developing aspects of students’ higher-level thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. To meet these learning outcomes, the activity had three key components: preparatory readings, firsthand visual analysis of art during a visit to an art museum, and communication of the analysis.

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Break the Stereotype! Critical Visual Literacy in Art and Design Librarianship

The authors consider an approach to visual literacy instruction that is rooted in the philosophies and practices of critical librarianship and feminist pedagogy. They explore the extent and limitations of existing standards, frameworks, and pedagogical models to support an idea of critical visual literacy, particularly in the context of art and design schools and creative career-focused institutions. By examining practices and examples from other disciplines, the authors identify strategies for teaching critical visual literacy in context. These pedagogical models inform the design and revision of two workshops for art and design students.

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A Short History of Visual Literacy: The First Five Decades

The origins and history of Visual literacy (VL) are summarized in this article, from the 1960s writings of John L. Debes, Marshall McLuhan and others of the Rochester School, to the influence of the Internet in the 2000s. ERIC and Google Scholar searches are used to analyse the evolution of its literature over time.

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A Look Over the Wall: Using the Graphic Novel druben! to Teach Linguistic, Literary, Cultural, and Visual Skills

This article discusses the potential and challenges of teaching a second‐semester German class with Simon Schwartz’s graphic novel drüben! (2009) alongside a traditional textbook. While the class explored linguistic, literary, and cultural‐historical aspects of drüben!, a GDR‐themed family memoir, the focus here is on those pedagogical interventions which dealt with the training of visual literacy.

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“They’re not just for Fridays anymore”: Media literacy, Hollywood, Historical Inquiry, and Hollywood Films

For generations, and perhaps since the inception of the motion picture industry, teachers of history have recognized the utility of incorporating Hollywood, or commercial, film productions into their classrooms as a visual stimulus.

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