XENIA DANOS PhD

GRAPHICACY & VISUAL INTELLIGENCE

 

"Visual  communication  is the development and conveyance  of ideas  and information in forms that can be read or looked upon. The skill required for dealing with visual communication is ‘Graphicacy’, which is defined   as   the   ability   to   communicate using  still visual images,  such as graphs, maps, drawings etc. The power of images has great possibilities and potentials. It can break through the barriers of language and academic status. It can change one’s perceptions  and decisions. It can be used as a tool for learning and for recording thinking.  In our schools’  curricula,  we find literacy, numeracy and articulacy being the main   focus   areas   across   the  subjects, placing no substantial efforts towards graphicacy.  However,  in all subjects, lessons are primarily taught with the use of verbal and visual communication.  Despite this, the teaching of understanding and working   with   different   types   of  images takes up little space in the curriculum."

 

 Graphicacy is also known as visual literacy (commonly used in the USA) and pictorial capability (commonly used in Sweden). 

 

 

 

The quote above has been taken from the following published thesis:

 

Danos, X. 2012, Graphicacy within the secondary school curriculum, an exploration of continuity and progression of graphicacy in children aged 11 to 15. Ph.D thesis, Available from: Loughborough University Institutional Repository https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/handle/2134/9652  [15 December 2014].