Museum Education

The Positive Impact of Visual
Literacy and Museum
Education Concepts
Integrated Through Art Into
Your Curriculum and Into the
Classroom
Cassia Kite
EME5207Sum2010
University of Florida

To get your students to become experts on
a subject, become confident public
speakers, educators and advocates with
expertise on their chosen subjects while
incorporating art into their lessons may
not sound easy, so I would like to share
with you some of my recent findings.

~Cassia Kite
This presentation is based on my research of
visual and media literacy and how
incorporating the use of visual materials into
your lessons can positively influence the
education of our youth today.
Museum education is one particular area I will
discuss in reference to providing an example
as to how you as an educator may consider
incorporating a more inquiry-based teaching
method into your classroom.
I will also provide information as to why I feel
media literacy is important to education.

Art in my lessons?!
You may be asking yourself…
What does art have to do with my curriculum?
I don’t have a degree to teach art?
You want me to teach one more thing within my
already ‘too full’ lesson plans?
My answer to all of these questions is YES!!!
…and this is why…

“Visual literacy is the ability to decode
visual symbols into meaning…to
articulate to others your perception of
what the image communicates and
listen to others’ responses; to create
visual statements” (Hobbs 1996, pgs
4-5).
~R. Hobbs
Hobbs, R. “Expanding the Concepts of Literacy” Published as “Expanding the
Concepts of Literacy,” in Robert Kubey (ed), Media Literacy in the Information
Age. New York: Transaction Press, 1996. Retrieved, 5/14/2006 1:54:19 PM
from:
http://interact.uoregan.edu/MediaLit/mlr/readings/articles/hobbs/expanding.html

“The most important aspect here for
educators is to present material in a
way which encourages sufficient
retention of information to facilitate
satisfactory learning in a culture that
over recent decades has changed
considerably” (Sankey 2002, p. 2).
~M.D. Sankey
Sankey, M.D. 2002, Considering visual literacy when designing instruction. The
Journal of Instructional Science and Technology, 5(2).

“Students need to learn visually and
teachers need to learn to teach
visually” (Stokes 2002, p. 14).
~ Suzanne Stokes
Stokes, S. (2002). Visual Literacy in Teaching and Learning: A Literature
Perspective. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from:
http://online.education.ufl.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=46637

“Just as ‘visual imagery clearly forcefully reinforces
the basic message’ (Knupfer 1993, p.149), so
colour, form and line will ensure attention to
perception and the engagement of the ‘visual
brain’, which in turn resonates with remembered
experience and results in linguistic representation.
Therefore the image will allow for a ‘sustained and
adaptive learning environment necessary to
increase learning potential’ (Heath 2000, p.123)”
(Sankey 2002, p. 6).
~M.D. Sankey
Sankey, M.D. 2002, Considering visual literacy when designing instruction.
The Journal of Instructional Science and Technology, 5(2).

“Literacy is not simply understanding the
grammatical rules of language. Instead, ‘it
refers to a connection between the
recognition, production and retrieval of what
is constituted as information on the one
hand, and its use or deployment as a
communication practice on the other’
(Schirato & Yell 1996, p.208)” (Hobbs 1996,
p. 7).
Concepts of Literacy,” in Robert Kubey (ed), Media Literacy in the
Information Age. New York: Transaction Press, 1996. Retrieved, 5/14/2006
1:54:19 PM from:

Media literacy is defined as being “a repertoire of
competences that enable people to analyze,
evaluate and create messages in a wide variety of
media modes, genres and forms. Education for
media literacy often uses an inquiry-based
pedagogic model that encourages people to ask
questions about what they watch, hear, and read.
Media literacy education provides tools to help
people critically analyze messages, offers
opportunities for learners to broaden their
experience of media, and helps them develop
creative skills in making their own media messages”
(Wikipedia, Media Literacy).

“Media literacy is the ability to create
personal meaning from the verbal and
visual symbols we take in every day
through television, radio, computers,
newspapers and magazines, and, of course,
advertising. It’s the ability to choose and
select, the ability to challenge and question,
the ability to be conscious about what’s
going on around us (45)”(Pace 2007, pg.
2).

Educators that use visual literacy to
communicate and build relationships
between the student’s life experiences
and learning in the classroom, will be
able to engage and communicate with
their students so that the students will
understand and retain more from
learning while gaining the self-
confidence they need to reach the
highest level of their learning
experience.

Using contemporary ways of incorporating the
students’ present life experiences into their
everyday education will help them understand the
influence that visual and social media has on the
way they look at the world.
“Art is essentially a communication. Art speaks in
the language of its media; it uses techniques that
are designed to inspire responses” (Way 2006,
Chapter 2, pg. 5).
Way, C. 2006. Focus On Photography: A Curriculum Guide. The International
School of Photography: Chapter 2 LINK, The Language of Photography;
Chapter 3 LINK,Visual Literacy.

Art, media literacy and
visual literacy are all
speaking the same
language but in different
ways to the viewer. The
messages are of many,
but the ways are through
the eyes, the ears and the
hands.

Museum
Education
Norman Rockwell Image: 7/5/2010
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/academics/masters/aie/images/news/rockwell_0
00.gif

Museum education is “an inquiry-
based method of discussing visual art
that is common in museums and is
highly recommended for classroom
discussions as well. To work with this
method, educators must be attuned to
the group’s level and advance at its
pace” (Hobbs 1996, p.9).
Concepts of Literacy,” in Robert Kubey (ed), Media Literacy in the Information
Age. New York: Transaction Press, 1996. Retrieved, 5/14/2006 1:54:19 PM
from:

Abigail Housen and The
Visual Thinking Strategies
Abigail Housen is a cognitive
psychologist, who developed five
stages of Aesthetic Development.
These five stages of development
are found in the curriculum for the
Visual Thinking Strategies.

The Visual Thinking Strategies
Alongside Housen’s five stages, the curriculum for
The Visual Thinking Strategies was developed and
the following is a list of suggestions that were found
to be influential in both museum education and
classroom settings:
accessibility, captivation, expressive content,
narrative, diversity, realism, media, subjects,
sequences, series/themes, things to avoid,
specific considerations for younger viewers and
for viewers with some experience (Yenawine
2009, pgs. 3-9).
Yenawine, P. (2009). Jumpstart Visual Literacy: Thoughts on Image
Selection. New York, NY Visual Understanding in Education. www.
visualthinkingstrategies.org

“Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is
a research-based teaching method
that improves critical thinking and
language skills through discussions of
visual images. VTS encourages
participation and self-confidence,
especially among students who
struggle. VTS is easy to learn and
offers a proven strategy for educators
to meet current learning objectives” (
http://www.vtshome.org/).

The Visual Thinking Strategies that
Housen developed encourage the
learner to connect to artwork, build
confidence in their ability to
communicate their understanding of a
work of art, to be active in class and
group discussions, to develop thinking,
communication and writing skills and to
get the learner to transfer these skills to
other parts of their educational
experience (VUE, www.vue,org).

In terms of relating media literacy to
the Visual Thinking Strategies, if you
review the definition of media literacy,
you see that just as medial literacy
provides tools to help people critically
analyze messages, offers opportunities
for learners to broaden their
experience of media, and helps them
develop creative skills in making their
own media messages…

…the Visual Thinking Strategies
improve critical thinking and
language skills through discussions
of visual images, encourages
participation and self-confidence in
the learner, and to develop thinking,
communication and writing skills and
to get the learner to transfer these
skills to other parts of their
educational experience.

Artsonia
One way that I build confidence in my students
is giving them the opportunity to exhibit their
artwork online. Artsonia is known as being the
largest online children’s art gallery and students
can not only view their work, but family and
friends can leave comments and purchase the
image to be reproduced on items such as
keychains, t-shirts and coffee mugs in support of
the school art program.
My school’s Artsonia site is found when you
search: Belleair Elementary School, Clearwater,
FL

The Salvador Dali
Museum in St.
Petersburg, Florida
has a museum
education program
that is exhibiting
media literacy,
visual literacy and
the Visual Thinking
Strategies in
collaboration with
one another.
Dali Philippe Halsman. Dali Double Moustache. Salvador Dalí.: Uploaded on
November 23, 2009 by RaúlVillalón
www.flickr.com/photos/raulvillalon/4127870395/

The Museum Curator of Education
has developed a program named
The Junior Docent Program that
give students the opportunity to
explore museum education.
Please click on this link to see Peter
Tush, Curator of Education at the
Dali Museum, narrate this video
featuring the Junior Docent
Summer Camp at the Dali.

In conclusion, art education within
all subjects where the media is
used or visual images are shown
for the students to analyze and
interpret creates an education that
harbors what is going on in the
world today and how the students
can learn from their personal
experiences.

Media literacy addresses cultural
differences in the classroom, enables
ways for all students to be involved
in class discussions, gives the
students encouragement to explore
connections between images and
text and how they relate to their life
experiences and can help to develop
multiliteracies that are needed to
make sense of multimodal
instructional materials (Pace 2007,
pgs. 2-3).

References:
Concepts of Literacy,” in Robert Kubey (ed), Media Literacy in the
Information Age. New York: Transaction Press, 1996. Retrieved, 5/14/2006
1:54:19 PM
from:http://interact.uoregan.edu/MediaLit/mlr/readings/articles/hobbs/expand
ing.html
Dali Philippe Halsman. Dali Double Moustache. Salvador Dalí.: Uploaded on
November 23, 2009 by RaúlVillalón
www.flickr.com/photos/raulvillalon/4127870395/
Norman Rockwell Image: 7/5/2010
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/academics/masters/aie/images/news/rockwell_00
0.gif
Pace, B. (2007). “A Glimpse of Media Literacy Education” UF Reserves.
Sankey, M.D. 2002, Considering visual literacy when designing instruction. The
Journal of Instructional Science and Technology, 5(2).

Stokes, S. (2002). Visual Literacy in Teaching and Learning: A Literature
Perspective. Retrieved February 8, 2010, from:
http://online.education.ufl.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=46637
VUE, www.vue,org
Way, C. 2006. Focus On Photography: A Curriculum Guide. The International
School of Photography: Chapter 2 LINK, The Language of Photography;
Chapter 3 LINK,Visual Literacy.
Wikipedia, Media Literacy
Yenawine, P. (2009). Jumpstart Visual Literacy: Thoughts on Image Selection. New
York, NY Visual Understanding in Education.
www.visualthinkingstrategies.org
You Tube: Junior Docent Program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=pwEJlqEzsCg

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