The Art of Education
The pervasive presence of television, film, music, instant digital communication, social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube), and the Internet shapes our students’ lives. In order to relate to these young adults, our education system must employ these same elements to help students make sense of their world.
Many research studies indicate that the arts are the vehicle through which learning takes on more layers of meaning. Our society has come to regard the oft-repeated phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” as a deep truth about the arts. But this phrase becomes nothing more than a clichéd expression when we don’t create the frameworks and amass the resources necessary to implement arts education.
Among the mediums within the arts, photography is the most accessible and easy to practice. With the advent of digital technology and its accompanying communication revolution, we are now producing and consuming imagery at an incredible rate, yet we spend little time educating ourselves about the uses and potential impact of imagery.
We must elevate our visual literacy, to understand images' “simple” meaning and their embedded nuances and perspectives.
The DiverCity Lens theory, method, and application to learning enables our youth to see the wonders of life in all their diversity and unity. At the same time, it empowers the students to reflect and craft their own narratives using photography and text.
- Zion Ozeri
