Images in the Curriculum

Printed images

Printed images are everywhere in curriculum. Images illustrate, embellish, and enrich text content. Images represent complex data through charts, graphs, tables, diagrams, and other symbolic tools. Photographs bring people, places, and other times to life. And of course, the image in art carries a very rich history of creative visual expression.

In our text-dominated schools, images have been ubiquitous but often marginal to the instructional purpose. Many textbooks use images to illustrate or even decorate, with the critical information contained only in text. Images are also rarely used for student expression, limiting opportunities for students more comfortable and skilled in visual media. Both Albert Einstein and George Lucas were considered poor students in school, in part because the curriculum did not draw out their visual thinking skills. Had the option to express ideas through drawing, diagramming, or creating video been available, their school experiences would have been markedly different.

In a print based world, images may seem less important than text in part because they are limited by the print medium itself. Being embedded in paper makes images static, so they cannot convey processes and relationships in the way moving images can. Printed imges can convey only what is on the page, and can’t be “zoomed in on” to look more closely at a certain aspect. And printed images are inaccesible to students who cannot see or understand them. Other ways of representing the same content cannot be attached to the printed page.