Teaching and Learning Librarian Illinois State University
In this session, the presenters will introduce participants to concepts and skills of visual literacy and critical visual literacy using picture books, as well as introduce research findings about teacher candidates’ awareness and ability to apply critical visual literacy. Critical visual literacy is the ability to deconstruct how systems of power are represented in images and media given a specific sociocultural context. Participants in this session will reflect on how to apply critical visual literacy when analyzing and teaching with children’s picture books.
The presenters developed a research study in which they analyzed the critical visual literacy skills of college students studying elementary education when applied to picture books to determine teacher candidates’ abilities to exhibit critical visual analysis skills without prior intervention. This is important because it demonstrates how these teacher candidates are likely to evaluate the images in picture books once they are in their own classrooms without targeted instruction. The presenters also found that teacher candidates do not always have explicit instruction on how to analyze the sociocultural contexts within visuals of books and interpret their possible impacts on learning, which may create a skills gap when they enter the profession.
Academic libraries serving education programs must be able to support the development of critical visual literacy skills through library instruction for education students, with specific attention paid towards picture books. However, librarians in public and school libraries are also well positioned to consider the role of critical visual literacy in their own work with picture books, both in programming and collection management.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion, participants will be able to define and recognize skills related to visual literacy and critical visual literacy in order to perceive relevance to children’s collections.
Upon completion, participants will be able to understand methods for analyzing picture books through a critical visual literacy lens in order to recognize the inherent sociocultural contexts within picture book visuals.
Upon completion, participants will be able to consider applications of critical visual literacy in a particular aspect of their own work.