One of the many challenges educators face daily is how to communicate ideas to learners with a wide range of background knowledge, learning style, interest/motivation and aptitude.
How many of us have told fascinating stories, presented compelling information, or sketched out ideas on the board-only to have a certain segment of the class stare at us blankly?
I think this is especially true in an area like science, where the real world connections are a bit harder for students, especially younger secondary students to make.
So, for an appreciation of the true challenge and artistry necessary to make compelling visual representations of scientific concepts, you may want to read the MIT News article about Felice Frankel’s work.
Felice is an award winning, MIT research scientist and photographer has spent decades perfecting this craft and has created free tutorials in MIT’s Open Courseware.
I think any secondary science teacher would enjoy reading about her process and may enjoy using principles from the course to enhance their own pedagogy. It’s also a reminder for all of us non-science teachers to think about how we are communicating our lessons and to examine whether we might benefit from a creative re-examination-possibly utilizing some of Felice Frankel’s work as inspiration. I also think students may benefit from reading about her career as it is a blend of the artistic and the analytical and utilizes the best of each to help individuals develop a deeper understanding of their world.
Questions for Discussion
- How often do you use visual representations to enhance your lessons?
- Why does Felice Frankel encourage researchers to develop “metaphors” to help explain their work?
- Is there a concept that you think your students would benefit from seeing a visual image?
- What are some creative methods you have used to help “illustrate” a concept?
- What is Felice Frankel’s background-how might this have impacted her work?
Wide Open Research 