"In many ways, images are the vehicle of comprehension, thought, and action. We integrate parts of images, we remember images, we manipulate images." This quote from James E. Zull clarifies the rationale for a discussion protocol called Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), in which teachers focus students' attention on an image and ask three questions; "What's going on in this image?" "What do you see that makes you say that?" and "What more can we find?" Drawing from their three-year study of VTS implementation at Camelot Intermediate Schools in South Dakota, the authors of this article show how VTS can improve students' critical thinking capacities, their self-awareness, and their sense of social connection.