Chapter 2 Photo-Elicitation
A Powerful and Challenging Strategy for Exploration and Enhancement of Education
In: Critical Reflection on Research in Teaching and LearningSearch for other papers by Narelle Patton in
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Abstract
This chapter is builton a premise that what can be known through oral and written knowledge is a fraction of what can be accessed through engagement with wordless knowledge. The complex and fluid nature of 21st-century society requires an openness to research and education strategies that harness the power of wordless ways of knowing in order to meet contemporary demands. A spirit of imagination, creativity, empathy, and risk-taking is needed to bring this vision to life. Visual research and education strategies are explored in this chapter as powerful, enjoyable, and rewarding ways to investigate educational phenomena and deepen student learning. Teaching and learning as inherently human practices (that is they are experienced, lived through and remembered afterward) can be richly explored and deeply understood through visual research strategies that lift the cloak of invisibility over everyday activities, and allow examination of the familiar with a more critical eye. The power of photo-elicitation to deepen understanding of teaching and learning is explored through a reflexive journey of the author’s implementation of photo-elicitation strategies across a range of contexts. Careful alignment of philosophical frameworks with research strategies ensures quality and rigor and generation of trustworthy and rich findings.