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F L A N N E R Y , DEPARTMENT EDITOR
s Ive mentioned here before, I am interested in the visual aspects of biology, the most visual
of the sciences. I am particularly attracted to the cellular and molecular worlds and how images of these levels of organization can help students understand what
is invisible to the naked eye. Because of this background, Ive been trying to learn more about the field
called visual literacy. Like all the literacies, from
information lit to science lit, visual literacy is not easy
to define and means different things to different people. One of the best, and briefest, analyses Ive seen is
that on the Literacy in the Digital Age Web site (part
of the North Central Regional Education Laboratory,
funded by the US Department of Education
http://www.ncrel.org/engauge/skills/skills.htm). The
literacies described here include science literacy, but I
want to just concentrate on the concept of visual literacy and what it can mean to biology teachers
(http://www.ncrel.org/engauge/skills/vislit.htm).
B I O L O G Y T O D AY
thinking in pictures
High-Tech
It is this more abstract world that I want to
explore here, and I want to divide it into two parts, the
high-tech and the low-tech. In a recent article on
Visual Literacy in Higher Education, Ron Bleed
emphasizes the high-tech end, noting the importance
of blogs, digital images, and video to 21st century
learning (http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetail
Page/666?ID=ELI4001). There are indeed exciting
things happening in the high-tech world called information visualization, that Chaomei Chen (2002)
defines as a computer-aided process that aims to
reveal insights into an abstract phenomenon by transforming abstract data into visual-spatial forms (p. 1).
There are many interesting examples of such visualization. Declan Butler (2004) writes of efforts to create a three-dimension noise map of Paris (www.
paris.fr/FR/Environnement/bruit). Decibel levels are
represented as different colors, with deep blue being
the noisiest followed by red, yellow, and green in order
of decreasing decibels. This simulation, that visualizes
how noise levels decrease by moving into side streets,
is fascinating and will be useful in designing noiseabatement programs, but it requires massive computer power. Then there is the Google Earth virtual globe
which displays complex visualizations of many kinds
of geographic data and promises to provide more and
more information in the future (http://earth.
google.com/). In addition there are many forms of
BIOLOGY TODAY
299
Genetics
Obviously, genetics is one of the fastest moving fields
in biology right now, and present-day genetic research just
wouldnt be possible without computers and visualization
technology. As Felice Frankel (2004) notes: We are drowning in datamore and more information flowing from each
new device or technique invented to measure something
important in the world. How do we sift knowledge from
this explosion of data, which screams for the clarity that
visual representation might provide? (p. 173). While
Frankel was making a general comment, the example she
went on to describe comes from genetics. She discusses the
work of Ben Fry on visualizing information about the
human genome. Fry has created a clever way of representing what is known about chromosomes. It is somewhat difficult to describe this visual in wordsafter all, thats what
makes such visualizations so important, but a presentation
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Low-Tech
While its obvious that high-tech images require a
great deal of analysis and patience in order to be appreciated, its less so for more traditional forms of data presentation. A table or a 2-axis graph or a pie chart is selfexplanatoryor is it? While many of us are amazed and
enchanted by the exciting new world of information visualizationas it is defined in terms of sophisticated technologywe still have to deal with the mundane. The Punnett
square still comes in handy, to say nothing of simple
tables. These look so uncomplicated compared to virtualreality environments accessed with special goggles that its
easy to take them for granted and assume students can
understand them at a glance. And its not just teachers who
think this way, so do students. These visuals are so dull
they must be obvious! But are they? When I came across
Marilla Svinickis (2005) article, Vision, Visuals,
Visualizations: Learning at Many Levels, I assumed it was
going to deal with complex, high tech visualizations and
computer-generated images, but instead she focuses on
tables, and very simple tables at that, with just three or four
rows and columns. Since it would seem that even the mentally slow could deal with these visuals, why is she concentrating on them? Her reasoning is that such visuals are
powerful, but require care in their use, because they can
serve each of the four roles of vision in learning: information, organization, conjuration, and inspiration.
I was at a meeting recently where we discussed, for the
thousandth time, the pros and cons of three course management software programs. The difference this time was
that one of the participants had taken the time to create a
table displaying information on the features of each, thus
putting into practice the first role of vision in learning. We
could see, really see, for the first time, just how these programs stacked up against each other. I cant say that it
silenced debate, but it did take the discussion to a different
and more reasoned level. But before the discussion began,
Thinking in Images
Svinickis third role for the visual in learning is conjuration, meaning the ability of an image to provide, or conjure up, more information than is in the image itself. In
other words, it can remind us of other things, again pointing to and solidifying relationships among pieces of information. Conjuring can also involve the emotional; as when
brightly colored charts seem more alluring than plain
black and white ones; or phylogenetic trees that picture
organisms seem more friendly than those that just list
names. Negative responses can be elicited from a table that
seems too elaborate, so complex that its hard for the viewer to know where to begin.
This is something we have to teach students: How to
begin to decipher a visual. They also have to be aided in the
questions to ask about format and content. The longer I
teach, the more I become aware of what it means to have
taught a long time, namely that it is very easy to take
knowledge for granted. Just because Ive known something
for ages, doesnt mean it is self-explanatory. In fact, I realize more and more that there is very little that is self-
BIOLOGY TODAY
301
explanatory. Teachers are always complaining that students dont know this, and they dont know that. I, too, get
very frustrated, especially when I think Ive covered something adequately, but student questions and answers indicate that not much has gotten through. My antidote to this
frustration is to think back to my own student days. I can
remember getting a 60 on a chemistry test where I thought
I knew the material, and a biology class where we were all
so clueless that the professor taught a lesson all over again.
Can todays students be much worse than that?
So my message is one of patience, and a reminder that
everything in teaching takes workand a great deal of
thought. I am convinced that visuals help, but only if we
guide students in deciphering them. We have to teach students how to master biology and also how to think. As
Svinicki notes, diagrams and other visual presentations of
information can help students to think more clearlyand
we have to remind students of this. We have to let them
know that there is a reason that we use the board so much
and show so many slides, or overheads, or computer presentations.
Svinicki mentions concept maps as one very useful
form of visual organizer and there is a great book on how
to use concept maps in teaching biology (Fisher,
Wandersee & Moody, 2000). I dont particularly like these
maps, perhaps because most of my education was in the
days before they became popular. However, when I use
concept maps I am always pleased with the results, both in
working through relationships among ideas with students
and in thinking through a problem for myself. Svinickis
fourth use for visual tools in teaching is as inspiration, and
thats where I find concept maps most helpful: in discovering relationships among ideas that just hadnt dawned
on me.
Svinicki uses the example of a generative organizer, a
table with many blank spaces where students can fill in, to
show how the elements in the table relate to each other. I
have to admit that I hadnt thought of using a table in this
way. To me, a table is a means for presenting information,
not for eliciting ideas, but why not use them in this way?
This can help students put information into context and
also do some higher-order thinking about that information: to analyze, compare, relate, and synthesize. Again,
concept maps are particularly useful in this regard because
they can be used to show how smaller ideas fit under more
general ones.
Maps
Geographic maps are also wonderful ways to present
information visually, and we definitely take them for grantedfrom the weather maps we see on TV to the travel
maps we have in our cars. But think about all the ecological, environmental, and evolutionary data that biologists
present on maps. Patrick Maynard (2005) discusses how
critical simplification is to the clarity of maps, using of the
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References
JOS VZQUEZ,
D E PA R T M E N T E D I TO R
System Requirements:
Windows
Windows 95, 98, Me, NT,
2000, XP
Open GL system library
16, 24, or 32-bit display
32 MB of RAM with virtual
memory (64 recommended)
Mac
Power PC G3, G4, G5
Mac OS X v 10.2.2-or later
32 MB of RAM (64 MB recommended)
JOS VZQUEZ teaches science in
the General Studies Program at
New York University. He has
been teaching for about 20
years and has taught every level
from elementary to graduate
school. His particular interests
are genetics/cell biology and
parasitology. Jos is also a
member
of
the
Test
Development Committee for the
National
Assessment
of
Educational Progress (The
Nations Report Card). His
address is: General Studies
Program-NYU, 726 Broadway
Ave., New York, NY 10003; email: jrv2@nyu.edu.
303
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304