Decoding Disciplinary Thinking

Decoding Your Discipline Using Visuals

Does the material you teach lend itself to visual representations or abstract concepts? Would you like to become more effective at using visuals to communicate concepts and ideas? This session examines how visualizations can be used effectively to enhance learning, how the learner interprets visualizations during knowledge acquisition, and how we can scaffold visual literacy with conceptual understanding. Participants will learn how to identify and integrate conceptual learning goals with visual learning goals. We will discuss strategies for fostering skills to promote visual thinking to enhance student understanding of abstract concepts.

Facilitator:

Kathy Takayama, Brown University

Biographical Sketch:

Kathy Takayama's research background is in the regulation of RNA processing mechanisms. She holds a B.S. in Biology from MIT, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Madison-Wisconsin and a faculty member of the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Dr. Takayama joined the Sheridan Center for Teaching & Learning in 2007 as the Associate Director for Life & Physical Sciences and is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry. She has delivered keynotes on her research in visualizations and the scholarship of teaching and learning (Gordon Conference on Visualizations and Science Education, Oxford University; The SoTL Commons Conference, Georgia Southern University). Her current interests are in visualizations in science education; the pedagogical integration of art + science; and the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL). Together with visual artist John Nicholson, she has had a solo exhibit at the Canberra Contemporary Arts Space in Australia. Dr. Takayama is a Carnegie Scholar and a founding member of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.