Revisiting curriculum inquiry: The role of visual representations

How do visual representations (VRs) in curriculum materials influence theoretical curriculum frameworks? Suggesting that VRs' integration into curriculum materials affords a different lens for perceiving and understanding the curriculum domain, this study draws on a curricular perspective in relation to multi-representations in texts rather than the predominant cognitive, art, communication, or media perspectives. It examines VRs' impact on the meaning of the text and on central curriculum theories and concepts, highlighting VRs' important, but overlooked, role in curriculum deliberations. For examining VRs as linked to the text and to curriculum frameworks, the part-whole relationship approach was used on three levels. It is suggested that VRs' versatility speaks simultaneously to all of the curriculum commonplaces, thus possibly serving as a unifying factor during processes of curriculum deliberation.