<p>[Clive</a> Thompson on the Power of Visual Thinking | Magazine](<a href=“http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/09/st_thompson_visual/]Clive”>http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/09/st_thompson_visual/)</p>
<p>I was talking to somebody…that doesn’t communicate well verbally. She wanted a lock. And she drew a picture of the lock she wanted. And I understood. I thought of this when I read the above article.</p>
<p>A friend of mine said this is how he got around parts of Europe…he used visuals…</p>
<p>I love articles like this. </p>
<p>In my world, this seems so normal I cant imagine the absence of visuals. </p>
<p>I can’t imagine any of us teaching a class without drawing visuals on the board or, now with our smart classrooms, on the laptop screen. It would be like, I dunno, like trying to talk without moving your body. So much can be conveyed visually, especially if one uses technology to make the visuals move. </p>
<p>I actually can’t think too well without drawing. Everything can be drawn. My desk is cluttered with stacks of paper, and bits of scribbles on them, of models, of ideas to illustrate points in meetings, to convey concepts, to develop theoretical models. </p>
<p>Or like last night, talking to one of the kids about homework regarding different types of election systems. Out comes the paper, and doodles. Nothing can replace it. I’d be in awe of people that can do higher order reasoning without drawing or grabbing objects, or articulating their point with their hands.</p>
<p>Starbright, I love your post.</p>
<p>So true. The worst is directions. I can keep about two turns in my head, but if I see a map I can remember a much more complicated route.</p>
<p>I had a friend who went to China without speaking Chinese. She drew pictures of everything.</p>
<p>“I had a friend who went to China without speaking Chinese. She drew pictures of everything.”</p>
<p>I had a friend who went to China without speaking Chinese. She drew pictures of everything. Very nice.</p>
<p>[mathmom]I had a friend who went to China without speaking Chinese. She drew pictures of everything.
[/QUOTE]
That wouldn’t work for me unless they could decifer “doodle”.</p>
<p>…thank goodness your friend could draw well and did not get into any trouble like the Stranger guy in the story about Taffimai and her “letter” 
(If you are not familiar with Rudyard Kipling, look up “How the first letter was written”
[How</a> the First Letter was Written by Rudyard Kipling - Read Print](<a href=“http://www.readprint.com/work-944/How-the-First-Letter-was-Written-Rudyard-Kipling]How”>http://www.readprint.com/work-944/How-the-First-Letter-was-Written-Rudyard-Kipling) ;))</p>