Visuality and Multimodality as Tools for Learning in Geography and Art Education

Abstract The article elaborates didactic perspectives on place-based learning in geography education and art education. Visuality and multimodality play a central role in aesthetic learning. The article offers a discussion of changes in the knowledge fields concerning the compulsory school subjects of geography and visual arts as well as the significance of using spatiality, visuality, and multimodality as tools for learning. A media-ecological approach creates didactic consequences for education, for example, globally exposed and visual media affects both geography and art education in crucial ways. In addition to being physical environments for learning, educational settings are emotional, relational, and virtual spaces. To function as educational tools, media, maps, and mapping are dependent on the ability of children, pupils, and student teachers to perceive and interpret visual information. The article discusses theoretical perspectives based on key concepts such as direction, distance, location, place, space, time, and so on; it also discusses lines, shapes, symbols, markers, and two- and three-dimensional form in relation to education, mapping, and multimodality. This discussion will be put in a widened context, in relation to digitization and globalization in society, and will emanate from examples in different educational settings, such as preschool, compulsory school, and higher education.