Children today are bombarded with pictures. We use images to teach them through picture books, textbooks and computer screens. The frequent and increased use of images in learning is proof that pictures can transform learning and the lives of individual students, paving the way towards more creative instruction in all subjects.

The ability to accurately interpret visual images and “read” the information conveyed by them, provided they are visually “expressive”, is paramount for academic success. Yet very little is known about how children come to understand pictures. Parents are traditionally the ones who introduce pictures to their young children through picture books and later the school takes over.

Some historical background

The picture was first used in education in Europe in the 9th century AD. The aim at the time was to spread religious teachings to illiterates and the common people. Over the centuries, the picture developed and became a language of communication with its own peculiarities and embedded signals. The Arab world still lacks the “culture” of the picture, substituting it with “descriptive” text. Arab educators tend to reinforce an individual’s “Multidisciplinary Skills” as a way to enhance comprehension, but it is still necessary to reinforce the use of pictures in books and curricula for a more modern approach while emphasizing the need to “read” pictures and the embedded messages they carry.

The picture at the heart of human civilization

The “cave of Lascaux” where early man lived 15,000 years ago is one of 130 Paleolithic caves in the south of France, but the best known because of the magnificence of its art. There is not a doubt that early cavemen drew pictures on the walls to express some of their fears and feelings just as painters and photographers do today. The picture is a vehicle by which emotions are carried in what is called “retransmission of sensations” in a language different from the literary text but equally important. Everything we see on the street, on TV, in newspapers and in ads are pictures that are transmitted to our conscious or subconscious mind without our permission. Many nations adopt pictures (flags, pictures of leaders, party logos, country symbols) to instill feelings of patriotism or allegiance that prove far more effective than a political speech. The more vivid or eye-pleasing these pictures are the more we are able to grow our analytical senses and develop our ability to judge and think constructively, while cultivating our sense of citizenship. It is in the same context and with these objectives in mind that the 1982 UNESCO convention stressed the importance of the picture and media in education and recommended integrating pictures in the school curricula. Most countries in the world are currently working on introducing and developing the use of pictures and media in their curricula.

The basics of learning though pictures

Learning through pictures is based on three complementary aspects:

1) To consider the picture as an essential part in mastering languages

2) Gain fundamental learning principles upon which disciplinary learning is based

3) Open the door for knowledge insertion and intercultural dialogue

In order to accomplish these, we have to continue work on the picture in several disciplines in order to read the symbols and messages associated with them, and to take into consideration the cultural differences that might arise from the picture’s content and context and how it relates to those reading it. Anyone who ends up poorly judging the true content of the picture or misconstruing it will fail to achieve the picture’s original purpose. It would be like showing a Picasso painting with its famous “Cubism” style to students in a sub-Saharan desert where the priorities are different and the premise is non-existent.

A simple fact

One does not think about the procedure involved in taking a still camera photo, but the exercise of finding this out is useful in understanding the importance of learning through pictures. In a simple comparison between the mechanisms and procedures of taking a photo from a digital still camera and how it matches with the theory of Bloom’s Taxonomy (Benjamin Bloom created this taxonomy for categorizing the level of abstraction of questions that commonly occur in educational settings), we notice that the learner also acquires thinking procedures ready to be executed on all grades.

The advantage of the digital camera is that you can see immediately the result so you can proceed to the next steps in Bloom’s taxonomy which are: analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

Conclusion

Although the picture has become an essential tool in our everyday life used in art, entertainment, politics, advertising, marketing, teaching, and others, the world of pictures has created a sort of uneasiness for educators especially in the Arab world. The main obstacles facing the picture in this part of the world is the inap ability of teachers to radically change their teaching methods despite the availability of a number of modern ones that adopt the picture as an essential teaching tool. For example, educators could simply replace the large number of classes dedicated to explaining World War II with fewer classes that instead emphasize the use of film and photographs to explain the same themes. But even themes could be exploited to suit our educational objectives. Such objectives might be, for example, to stress not the number of fatalities and economic repercussions of war but rather sensitizing the learners about the dangerous effects of global conflicts on man and nature through pictures and certainly sounds. Hence, pictures are excellent tools to use as base knowledge to learners and also as devices to intensify the learning process and the feelings learners have towards the things they learn about.

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The learning objectives through the image

Educators were able to extract three objectives from using the picture in the educational process based on the assumption that the picture is also a language.

Purpose No.1:

Giving learners the ability to identify a number of iconic discourses (differentiation between fictitious discourses and information, between the picture and a painting, etc.) and through which the acquired cultural understanding will play a role in transforming knowledge into social and moral responsibility. This translates into learning from an early age to behave with self-confidence and in a socially and morally responsible way within and beyond the classroom and into community involvement, i.e. learning about becoming involved in the concerns of communities, instead of developing a pure cultural accumulation of facts.

Purpose No. 2:

It is mastering the interpolation of activities related to reading, thus the picture should not be used as an auxiliary tool in the educational operation or as a decorative item to text as is the case in most cases. Instead, it has to be presented as a subject for study and analysis that is no less important than the written text. In other words, the reader needs to be able to dissect the picture, observe it, evaluate it, study its structure, and understand the message behind it.

Purpose No. 3:

Keeping in mind that a child’s development and the building of his universes is dependent on the interaction with his environment values from both school and society and on the texts he reads and analyses, bringing the picture into his world would be within the context of learning a new language with emphasis on developing knowledge and strategies of learning.

Bloom Taxonomy- Taking a Still Photo
1 Must know how to use a camera	Observation and recall of information	Knowledge: Verbs: List, define, identify, collect, examine, collect, examine, quote…
2 Choose your subject	Mastery of Subject matter
3 Identify items related to subject	Knowledge of major ideas
4 Collect and regroup items related to subject	Order and regroup infer causes. Grasp meaning	Comprehension: Verbs: Describe, interpret, contrast, predict, associate, distinguish, extend…
5 Interpret and transform items into idea	Translate knowledge into new context
6 Put in frame (see through the camera)	Interpret, compare, and contrast. Solve problem using required skills or knowledge	Application: Verbs: Apply, demonstrate, illustrate, modify, experiment, relate…
7 Apply, take a picture	Use information

How to observe an image

An image, according to Marshall McLuhan, has two components:

The figure/subject, it is the main element in the image; it explains clearly its existence, emotion, action, function… such as a passport photo. That photo shows a person’s face, as all other component are reduced to the minimum.

The ground (everything else than the figure), such as the background, context, style, composition, viewer mood, lighting, the atmosphere around the image, why, when, for whom it is presented, its relation with the time and space… The figure/subject targets our conscience; it is easy to read, to decode and it is similar to a clear written title (a sad woman standing, a modern building, a boy playing…). The figure is the first element we see in an image. The ground is totally different. It affects our subconscious mind which is related to our culture and lived experiences. The ground makes our emotions move. What do we see in our old photo album? Do we see only the action or do we also feel emotions (we feel laughing, sadness, anger, satisfaction...)? For others who are not concerned do they feel the same way?

Hints

How to deal with an image in class?

- Choose an Image related to learners’ lives, experiences or knowledge.

- Try to create a convenient atmosphere (add music, dim light; introduce the artist or its situation…).

- Ask:” what do you feel?” as a first question to help learners to express their feelings.

- Call on learners to connect or associate the image with their own lives or experiences (Identification).

- Try to make learners read the image’s codes and components and their meanings.

- Give the picture a title, compare it with the original and justify yours.

By Nehme Nehme

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