Wiley Visualizing wraps clear, concise text around hundreds of photos, well-designed illustrations, diagrams, and charts. This visual approach helps students learn more effectively, links text and visuals to what is familiar, and presents complex information in a more efficient manner.
Students could study the photographs in this figure as they read about consumption of natural resources in different parts of the world. The photos provide a concrete visual representation of the textual information and help students make sense of abstract concepts.
Point out important information as the students look at the visuals. With this figure, an instructor can discuss important features of radioactive decay, while using the visual to direct students’ attention to key visual elements, helping them begin to organize the information and develop an integrated mental model.
Students can review key vocabulary, concepts, principles, processes, and relationships displayed visually. This figure, shows the sensory areas of the brain and highlights key physical features. A student can quickly review and recall the vocabulary, and physical relationships.
Visuals can be used for comprehension activities or assessments. For example, students could be asked to identify examples of concepts portrayed in visuals. This image of horizontal rock strata in the Badlands could be used to assess students’ ability to identify different geologic formations.
Learning is made more meaningful when a learner can apply facts, concepts, and principles to realistic situations or examples. This photograph of the Grand Canyon, an image familiar to many students, illustrates key information about stratification of rock, linking new concepts to prior knowledge in an authentic and familiar context.
Visuals can be used as the centerpiece of collaborative activities, requiring students to study, make sense of, discuss, hypothesize, and make decisions regarding the content of the visual. This diagram shows the relationships between several concepts related to economics and the environment. Students can work together to interpret and describe the diagram.