Visual Tools for Transforming Information Into Knowledge

Featuring new research and examples, this practical resource focuses on brainstorming webs, graphic organizers, and concept maps to improve instruction and enhance students' cognitive development.

Cover; Contents; Foreword; Prologue; Acknowledgments; About the Author; Summary Definition of Visual Tools; Introduction: Transforming Static Information into Active Knowledge; Blind Insights; Right Now: Jumping the Achievement Gap for All Children; Overview of the Book; Chapter 1 -- The Mapping Metaphor; Cognitive Dissonance in Representation Systems; The Elephant in the Room; The Mapping Metaphor: Terra Incognita; Mapping the Brain; Visual Tools for Mapmaking; The Foundation of the Mapping Metaphor: Seeing; Chapter 2 -- Facilitating the Networking Brain and the Patterning Mind.

Nonlinguistic and Linguistic RepresentationsResearch Studies on Graphic Organizers; Reading Comprehension and Reading First Research; Mapping Living Systems; The Brain is a Pattern Detector; The Visual Brain; The Mind Organizes into Schematic Patterns; Multiple Intelligences as Active Patterns; Habits of Mind; Chapter 3 -- Using Visual Tools; Clarifying a Confusion of Terms and Tools; Content-Specific Visual Tools; Defining Visual Tools; Theory-Embedded Tools; Types of Visual Tools; Reviewing Your Toolkit; Choosing Appropriate Visual Tools; The Importance of Student Ownership of Visual Tools.

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