|
Questions
As already stated, one of the main ways in which children's visual literacy will be developed is through the asking of appropriate questions about images - by the teacher and by the children themselves. At this point it may be useful to consider the range of questions that may be asked and their purposes.
Questioning in the primary classroom is a topic worthy of lengthy consideration - whole books have been written about it! For the purposes of these pages, however, I will consider four types of question that may be asked:
- Closed
- Person-centred
- Interpretive
- Evaluative
The example questions given below relate to this image - a street scene from India
Closed
Although the over-use of closed questions is considered to be bad practice in many quarters, they have a useful place in the promotion of children's understanding of visual information. When presented with an unusual or unfamiliar image (e.g. a black and white photograph or illustration from the past, an image from a different place or culture), children will need help to begin to make sense of it. Simple closed questions can be used to focus their attention on the image and what it shows - for example, how many people are in the picture? How many women can you see? Are there any shoes in the picture?
Person-centred
A closed question can be made more open and "child-friendly" by inserting the words "do you think". This changes a closed question which demands a right answer into one which asks for an opinion or view - for example, what do you think the men in the picture are doing?
Interpretive
Visual literacy is as much about making inferences and deductions from visual evidence as it is about giving a title to a picture based on what it shows. Interpretive questions are ones which encourage children to make deductions from the visual evidence - for example, what do you think is being carried in the containers? Why are so many people gathered in this place? What do you think the climate in this place is like?
Evaluative
Two types of evaluative questions could be asked: empathetic questions and questions about the reliability and/or bias in the image. Questions which require empathy involve children's imaginative response to the image - for example, how would you feel if you were one of the people in the picture? Questions about the reliability of the visual information and the bias that may be evident are particularly important to the development of critical understanding - for example, why did the photographer take this picture?
Tasks
- Look at Image 3 (link on the right) - a photograph of a late Victorian classroom - and consider the historical questions you would ask about it with a group of children in your preferred age-phase. They should be questions aimed at developing children's visual literacy and also their knowledge of Victorian schooling by making comparisons with their own classroom.
Make a note of 6 - 8 questions you would ask - a couple of closed questions to focus attention, followed by some interpretive and evaluative questions to encourage interpretation, deduction, empathy and critical thinking. Use the Back button on your browser to return to this page.
- Read and make notes on the Nuffield Primary History Project's approach to Questions and Questioning.
|
