(Re)Activating Educational Displays
Micaela Deogracias, Christina Jones · 2024
This chapter presents a case study examining the impact of visual literacy instruction on pre-service teachers. The study is contextualized within the Banned Books Week programming at an academic library. Considering the widespread presence of educational displays in schools, the authors focused on the social injustice of censorship to highlight the influence of school bulletin boards and classroom doors. The students engaged in two activities: first, a lecture and discussion about contemporary censorship in schools; second, explicit visual literacy instruction to prepare for creating their own educational display. Students implemented their designs on the classroom doors of the institution. The authors’ analysis of the decorated doors suggests a positive correlation between the instruction and visual impact of student designs. The authors recommend further efforts to offer visual literacy instruction in teacher education programs and additional opportunities for hands-on experience to cultivate a culture of social justice in schools and classrooms through educational displays.