Lesson 13

Teaching with Visual Symbols

Abstraction:

Your experience of the words and the graphs convinces you that a graph is easier to understand than the words of a paragraph. A graph is “worth a thousand words.” A graph and any visual symbol for that matter such as drawings, cartoons, strip drawings diagrams, and maps are worth a thousand words.

A.   DRAWING 

A drawing may not be the real thing but better to have a concrete visual aid than nothing. To avoid confusion, it is good that our drawing correctly represents the real thing.

B.    CARTOONS

Another useful visual symbol that can bring novelty to our teaching is the cartoon. A first-rate cartoon tells its story metaphorically. The perfect cartoon needs no caption.

Sources of Cartoons

You can easily collect cartoons for instruction. They appear often in newspapers and magazines. In class, you can give it to individual students or individual study or project it by an opaque projector.

Sketching cartoons

Want to develop your skill at sketching for cartoons?

·         Start with simple shapes and add details. Note changes in expression.

·         Side view start with same basic shapes.

·         Most cartoon figures are about four heads tall. Keep them simple.

When to use cartoons in instruction?

You can also use this as a springboard for a lesson or a concluding activity. It depends on your purpose.

C.  STRIP DRAWINGS

These are commonly called comics or comic strip. Dale (1969) asserts that a more accurate term is strip drawings; make use of strips that are educational and entertaining at the same time.

Where to use strip drawing in instruction?

These can serve as motivation and a starter of your lesson. It can also be given as an activity for students to express insights gained at the conclusion of a lesson.

Sources of strip drawing

You can obtain drawings from newspaper, magazines and books.

K to 12 curriculum standards and competencies

Identify a competency where a strip drawing Is appropriate.

D.   DIAGRAMS

It is “any line drawing that shows arrangements and relations as of parts to the whole, relative values, origins and development , chronological fluctuations, distribution. Etc.” (Dale, 1969) 

If you can draw stick figures, you can easily draw the diagrams that you need as you go along. To emphasize the key points in your diagram, make use of color whether you use the chalkboard or the OHP and transparencies.

Types of diagram

Find out what these other diagrams are. You must need them as you go about your other teaching-related tasks.

·         Affinity diagram- used to cluster complex apparently unrelated data into natural and meaningful groups.

·         Tree diagram- used to chart out, in increasing detail, the various tasks that must be accomplished to complete a project or achieve a specific objective.

·         Fishbone diagram- it is also called cause-and-effect diagram

E.    CHARTS

A chart is a diagrammatic representation of relationships among individuals within organizations. We can have a: 1) time chart, 2) tree or stream chart, 3) flow chart, 4) organizational chart, 5) comparison and contrast chart, 6) pareto chart and 7) run chart or trend chart.

Examples of chart

·         Time chart- is a tabular time chart that presents data in ordinal sequence.

·         Tree or stream chart- depicts development, growth and change by beginning with a single course (the trunk) which spreads out into many branches; or by beginning with the many tributaries which then converge into a single channel.

·         Flow chart- is a visual way of charting or showing a process from beginning to end.

·         Organizational chart- hows how one part of the organization relates to other parts of the organization.

·         Comparison and contrast chart- used to show similarities and differences between two things.

·         Pareto chart- is a type of bar chart, prioritized in descending order of magnitude or importance from left to right.

F.    GRAPHS

There are several types of graphs. They are: 10 circle or pie graph, 2) bar graph, 3) pictorial graph and 4) line graph

·         Pie or circle graph- recommended for showing parts of whole.

·         Bar graph- used in comparing the magnitude of similar items at different ties or seeing relative sizes of the parts of a whole.

·         Pictorial graph- makes use of picture symbols.

·         Graphic organizers- you met several graphic organizers in your subject, principles of teaching.

G.  MAPS

A map is a “representation of the surface of the earth or some part of it…” (Dale 1969)

Kinds of map

·         Physical map- combines in a single projection data like altitude, temperature, rainfall, precipitation, vegetation, and soil.

·         Relief map- has three dimensional representations and show contours of the physical data of the earth or part of the earth.

·         Commercial or economic map- also called product or industrial map since they show land areas in relation to the economy.

·         Political map- gives detailed information about country, provinces, cities and towns, roads and highways.

·         Map language Scale- shows how much of the actual earth’s surface is represented by a given measurement on a map.

·         Symbols- usually a map has a legend that explains what each symbol represent highways, railroads, mountains lakes and plains.

·         Color- the different colors of the map are part of the map language.

·         Geographic grids- the entire system of these grid lines are called grid lines. 

         H. POSTER

               

 A poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text.

This cover emphasizes the use of modern technology in school to develop and innovate students in exploring the world of technology. The book symbolizes knowledge because it contains all the information about anything. In fact, books nowadays have also developed to compensate with modern technology. Gadgets like the computers, laptops, cellphones and tabs could contain all the needed information that a person is looking for because they are capable in using the internet to access the web. And today's generation uses technology for better educational foundation and learning integration because we need this to be able to cope up with our evolving and fast growing society.