Drawing Conclusions

Using Visual Thinking to Understand Complex Concepts in the Classroom

Patricia A Dunn author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Teachers' College Press

Published:12th Feb '21

Should be back in stock very soon

Drawing Conclusions cover

Drawing Conclusions explores the use of juxtaposed visual representations (JVRs) to help preservice teachers grapple with abstract concepts, theories, or complex controversies in education. Acting as both a learning tool and an intellectual spark, JVRs are two simple contrasted sketches that students produce on a divided sheet of paper. In these drawings, students attempt to visually represent contrasting ideas that the class is struggling to understand (such as code-meshing versus code-switching, descriptive versus prescriptive grammar, peer response versus peer editing). JVRs are powerful tools for the teacher education classroom because they employ active learning and scaffold pedagogical strategies, act as a low-stakes but important formative assessment tool, help students grapple with complex literary and critical theories, and aid in reorganizing and revising a long writing project.

Book Features:

  • Offers a method for pushing students to higher-order thinking in just a few minutes, helping them analyze critical concepts in English education, writing studies, linguistics, literacy, English Language Arts, and related fields.
  • Outlines how to use JVRs to encourage students to think in a wider dimension, to use different parts of their brain, and to awaken different neurons.
  • Provides multiple examples of JVRs to help instructors adapt this intellectually stimulating heuristic to their own classrooms.
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“This is a valuable resource and direction for those in all fields of education.”

Teachers College Record


“In Drawing Conclusions by Patricia A. Dunn, we see an alternative approach that helps students pursue a more significant understanding of literacy concepts by creating visual representations of confusing or complex topics.”

Teaching English in the Two-Year College

ISBN: 9780807764923

Dimensions: 229mm x 156mm x 6mm

Weight: unknown

128 pages