Teaching with Pictures

There is real power in using pictures to communicate current affairs to children.

Pictures form the basis of Picture News resources, and they are something we stand by to introduce and articulate news events to children.

Opening your discussion
Using relevant images are an effective opening tool to introduce news topics. Centring an image as the foundation of your pupils’ discussion can be an interesting stimulus.

This could be an image you’ve seen in a news article, a still from a video, or a photograph of a scene from the news event.

Encourage your pupils to look at an image, and talk about what they can see.

Images can spur children’s imagination, help them contemplate news events, and encourage them to discuss and form ideas.

Making your discussion accessible
Basing your news teaching on images makes it accessible.

A visual focus exposes news events to children of all educational abilities and preferences. A thought-provoking image can substitute a chunk of text, which children may find hard to digest.

It could be that the right image helps a topic ‘click’ with children, as they explore the news with an image-based approach.

Keeping it age-appropriate
Your photo choice can make for some interesting discussions, but it’s important you keep them suitable for the age of the children you teach.

Vet the images and videos you will share before showing them to children. Ensure the images are appropriate, while still conveying what’s happening in the news effectively.

What Picture News can do for you
Picture News is a weekly discussion-based resource, and uses images to communicate news stories to children.

Each Picture News pack is based on a poster, made up of a related image and big question. We take this focus to prompt discussion, and encourage children to take interest in current affairs.

Help your pupils explore news stories via images and discussion questions, without the extra workload of seeking out stories, facts, and visual content.

Explore current affairs using pictures with a free sample of Picture News, here.