Hi everybody!
I just wanted touch on visual literacy and how I think it relates to math. According to the ACRL, Visual literacy is a skill set that allows a students to effectively synthesize and create visual media. Further, the visually literate student is a critical thinker and a competent contributor of knowledge and culture. For a deeper more precise definition, click here.
As math teachers, we know that math can be very visual. And that teaching students to visualize the problems, concepts, and terms can be very hard. So, I say, turn to literacy. Show students through visual literacy strategies how to understand math...like making proofs in geometry with geometers sketchpad. Don't be afraid to get 'techie' about it.
In finance, there are so many terms and concepts to understand in order to comprehend everyday real life institutions like the stock market. Here is a web site that I found to help visualize these terms and concepts.
Enjoy!
Geometer's sketchpad maybe one of the most useful tools in the understanding of mathematics. I learned so much from using this program. Just being able to play around with all of the different shapes, angles, and lines was very beneficial. It's also a good way to get kids to be interactive and make mistakes while still applying true mathematics!
ReplyDeleteI said this on Steve's blog as well, but I felt like I had so much fun finding different ideas of visual literacy! I really believe in math that it is so much better to have some sort of visual interpretation of what the students are learning to get them engaged and have something more concrete they can use. Using graphs and shapes in the lesson can really help students make the connection to what they are learning.
ReplyDeleteMrs. K - I just went to the websites you suggested. The second one has really nice videos that explain concepts in easy to use terms! I am glad everything started coming together for you - good luck!
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