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Implications
Younger children (R - Y2) may see pictures as a series of separate details
- They notice foreground and large background objects, but tend to ignore the middle ground;
- "Year 2 children pick on lots of detail, especially foreground detail, including things that are relatively unimportant to the understanding of the photograph including peripheral objects, but not necessarily the main essence of the picture" (Stott 1994);
- They tend not to take in the “whole picture” - or, at least, if they do, they do not verbalise their conclusions;
- In the classroom, they should be presented with lively, “peopled” pictures with lots of detail and be encouraged to give a title to an image.
Older children (KS2 onwards)
- Begin to identify main points of a picture
- Begin to generalise and take in the “whole picture”
For a more detailed short outline of research in this area, please read Mackintosh M (1998) Learning from Photographs in Scoffham S (Ed.) Primary Sources: Research Findings in Primary Geography Geographical Association, Sheffield
Teaching Graphicacy
The teaching of graphicacy remains vitally important, even with older children, in that many visual conventions which adults take for granted will still need to be explicitly taught if children are to make sense of the range of visual images we expect them to use, especially in classroom contexts. Aldrich & Shepherd (2000) carried out a survey of books used in the teaching of primary science and found that many used visual images which could be confusing or misleading to children, if they were not explained and/or decoded by the teacher.
Task
Read and make notes on Aldrich and Shepherd's article (MS Word File 1.9 Mb). Take particular note of the prior knowledge and assumptions which they suggest are implicit in certain graphic formats.
Reference
Aldrich F & Sheppard L (2000) ‘Graphicacy’: the fourth ‘R’? in Primary Science Review, 64, 8 – 11
Stott K (1994) Teaching Geography using Photographs Unpublished Dissertation Canterbury Christ Church College
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