Visual Literacy in Social Studies

Hi readers! I was not expecting to be doing another blog so soon, but I am happy to be sharing a few more of my thoughts with you. In this blog I am going to be discussing visual literacy in social studies classrooms!

For anyone unfamiliar with the idea, visual literacy is our ability to dissect the meaning of images and graphics. We do this everyday whether we are thinking about it or not. For example, before we even can read as children, our parents show us picture books and point to the different pictures, to help us associate words. Visuals are powerful, and they can help make complex topics easier to understand.

In social studies classrooms, visual literacy can appear in many ways! Here are just a few examples that I think are really fun to incorporate:

1. Political Cartoons: Using political cartoons is a great way to help students understand complex topics, because the drawings images are all symbolic of different people, countries, policies, etc. When big concepts are boiled down to a short caption and a cartoon, it conveys the main ideas faster.

2. Gallery Walk: Having pictures hung around the room, and allowing students the freedom to stroll around taking notes on what they observe in each image can allow them to feel more immersed in the time period you are discussing. It can also let them see the same event from multiple perspectives so that they receive a more well rounded understanding of the event or time period.

3. Art history: Art tends to reflect the ideals or issues of the artist’s surroundings at a given time. Showing students art from different eras could help them not only see depictions of events and eras themselves, but they could have an opportunity to look for deeper meaning. Websites such as Google Arts&Culture are wonderful for this type of activity.

These are just 3 quick examples of visual literacy ideas, but there are many more that would work well in a history classroom. I would love to hear any ideas you all have!

Thank you so much for reading this week! Stay safe and healthy out there!