Published Paper Details:

The idea of visual education is not new. It appears that over long centuries outstanding teachers have tried to devise ways to make concepts clearer to their pupils through the use of various devices. It is said that 2500 years ago the Greek mathematician Pythagoras drew geometric figures in the sand when making his demonstrations. History suggests that the basic condition which strongly encourages study and experimentation in visual aids was one which was the danger of what William James called it "Empty Verbalism" concepts; to have meaning for the learners must be grounded in his personal experience. Many students of Educational method are convinced that the most serious problem of all formal teaching from Kindergarten through college is the avoidance of meaningless verbalisation. The avoidance of excessive verbalism was a basic consideration in the pedagogical theories of Johann Amos Comenius (1592-1670). Comenius was greatly disturbed by the prevailing methods and materials of instruction in use in his day. He was convinced that improvement in Teaching and learning would necessitate more emphasis on sense experience, in order that the formal teaching would be grounded in the experience of children and would thus be meaningful to them. This conviction led him to prepare one of the most famous text book ever written for children, ORBIS PICTUS (meaning the world in pictures). This book contained numerous pictures of scenes from everyday life of the times accompanied by textual material for children to read. In his book Comenius gave the following directions to the teachers and parents who were to use the materials with children.