Thomas G. West's Blog: In the Mind's Eye, Dyslexic Renaissance

Who is Thomas G. West?   He is the author of In the Mind's Eye: Visual Thinkers, Gifted People With Dyslexia and Other Learning Difficulties, Computer Images and the Ironies of Creativity and also Thinking Like Einstein: Returning To Our Visual Roots With The Emerging Revolution In Computer Information Visualization 

I don't know how I missed Thomas G. West's blog, as his books and writings have influenced the last ten years or so of my life.  They inspired me to study technology, take a deep look at visual thinking, and follow my instincts to take a visual/multimedia approach to the way I communicate through my blogs.  (For examples of this method of communication, take a look at my Interactive Multimedia Technology blog.)

Here is a link to his blog, which he started in March, 2009:

In the Mind's Eye, Dyslexic Renaissance 

"Visual thinking, visual thinkers, visual technologies, visual giftedness, dyslexia, learning difficulties, brain diversity, creativity, scientific discovery, scientific visualization, computer graphics, entrepreneurial business, art and design, history of science, visual aspects of cultural and economic history"

A new edition of In the Mind's Eye will be published later this year, perhaps this month. I look forward to seeing what West has to say.  If you read some of Thomas West's blog post, you'll get an idea of what he explores in his books.  (Warning;  no pictures, just words.)

Cool Interactive Whiteboard Activities for Teaching Math: Free at Teacher LED

I recently came across the TeacherLED website and was impressed by the numerous math-related activities created for teachers to use when presenting new concepts via demonstration on an interactive whiteboard. This is an excellent way of presenting concepts that appeal to visual learners.

What I like about the resources is that they are open-ended. They were designed so they have flexibility of use, which is a good thing for teachers.There are several activities that function as games that are designed for the whole class, which is a good thing for students.

Math concepts covered on the TeacherLED site include algebra, data handling, number, shape, space, measurement, general math, and investigation. There is a link to alphabet resources, spelling activities, and maps. Many of the resources are accompanied by instruction sheets for the teacher.

The author of the website and creator of the interactive resources is Spencer Riley, a teacher in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Thank you, Mr. Riley, for your hard work and generous spirit!

Visualization Symposium 2008, UNC-Charlotte

I recently attended the Visualization in the World Symposium, hosted by the Charlotte Viz Center at UNC-Charlotte. I was impressed by the variety of disciplines represented at the symposium- the speakers came from fields such as architecture, psychology, and geography. The audience was also diverse.

The slides from the presentations will be available soon, so check back to follow the links, or visit the Charlotte Visualization Center's website.

If you are interested in visual thinking, visual literacy, visual communication, and visualization in education, take the time to explore the links once they are posted!

FYI: There is a growing group of people who'd like to get a "World Visualization Day" off the ground. Earth Day is celebrated in our schools, why not a visualization day?! Dr. Kosara, the author of the Eager Eyes blog, is a strong supporter of this movement.

At the moment, various colleges and organizations offer a "visualization day" from time-to-time. If you live in the New York area, you might be interested in attending Visualization Day at City College of New York.