Visuals are a great way to demonstrate to students the concepts that are under investigation and study.  I enjoy using Lego models to demonstrate to students certain places or objects that have played a role in history or social studies.  Often these models will be presented with an accompanying text in order to inform the audience about the place, structure, vehicle or object being displayed.  This stimulates students’ literacy skills because it gives them a 3-dimensional object to refer to as they read the text and it serves to inspire students to create these kinds of models themselves which will make the research component of an assignment more interesting if they know they are going to be creating a model eventually.  In this case, we see a model of Air Force One and some figurines inside.  I can use this to talk about the plane itself if I were doing a unit on transportation or the office of presidency in the US government or I can use it to discuss the swearing-in of Lyndon Baines Johnson following the assassination of John Kennedy since he was in fact sworn in aboard the plane.