What is Visual Literacy?

What, indeed, is visual literacy? Steve Moline, author of I See What You Mean, tells a group of teachers that we live in an age in which newspapers, CDs, and the Internet are covered with graphs, charts, maps, flow charts, scale diagrams, cross-sections, timelines, and tables. The ability to concoct and interpret such "visual texts" is increasingly important, as you yourself can attest if you've tried to make sense of a time-zone chart or a currency-exchange table lately. Moline's video is intended as an in-service program for educators, so its appeal is narrow, but he does a fine job explaining how visual literacy can be incorporated into classroom work. Strongly recommended for its intended audience. Aud: J, H, C. (K. Glaser)