Text Learning Using Scientific Diagrams: Implications for Classroom Use (original) (raw)
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Learning from text with diagrams: Promoting mental model development and inference generation
Journal of Educational Psychology, 2006
Two experiments investigated learning outcomes and comprehension processes when students learned about the heart and circulatory system using (a) text only, (b) text with simplified diagrams designed to highlight important structural relations, or (c) text with more detailed diagrams reflecting a more accurate representation. Experiment 1 found that both types of diagrams supported mental model development, but simplified diagrams best supported factual learning. Experiment 2 replicated learning effects from Experiment 1 and tested the influence of diagrams on novices' comprehension processes. Protocol analyses indicated that both types of diagrams supported inference generation and reduced comprehension errors, but simplified diagrams most strongly supported information integration during learning. Visual representations appear to be most effective when they are designed to support the cognitive processes necessary for deep comprehension.
CONTENT ANALYSIS OF DIAGRAMMATIC REPRESENTATIONS IN UPPER PRIMARY SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS
International Journal of Research - GRANTHAALAYAH, 2017
The present study is an attempt to investigate content analysis of diagrammatic representations in upper primary science textbooks based on diagrammatic typology. The study analyzed the distribution of diagrams in different upper primary science book categories. The sample selected consists of a total number of nine 7th grade physics, chemistry and biology textbooks adopted in three Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (I.C.S.E) schools in the Allahabad, India. Content analysis in this research entails a systematic coding and categorizing of the diagrams, drawings, photos, charts and graphs appeared in upper primary school science textbooks. A great amount of diagrams have been used in the upper primary level of science teaching. On average, there are about 1.20 diagrams in physics, 0.80 diagrams in chemistry & 1.06 diagrams in biology textbooks used per page for the purposes of explaining, presenting or evaluating the scientific domain. The results confirmed that upper primary level of science education demands large quantity of diagrams to facilitate students learning. So content analysis of diagrammatic representations of science textbooks is recommended and teachers should adopt such diagrammatic strategies which increase the level of knowledge of learners. Teachers should teach students through different diagrammatic representations skills and to enhance their academic performance.
When do diagrams enhance learning? A framework for designing relevant representations
2008
Although many studies demonstrate large learning gains when instruction includes diagrams, diagrams do not always lead to improved outcomes. How can instructional designers know whether a given diagram will enhance learning? We have developed a framework of three factors that influence the effectiveness of a diagram in a particular learning situation: the learning objective, the design of the visual representation and the cognitive processing of the learner. In a randomized-design study conducted in a college chemistry class, we found that instruction that included diagrams created with this framework led to enhanced performance on open-ended transfer items compared to traditional instruction, particularly for low-performing students. We propose that a concept-based cognitive theory of multimedia learning that includes a conceptual working memory component may explain why the efficacy of diagrams depends heavily on the prior knowledge of the learner as well as the conceptual information available in the representation.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2010
In an eye tracking study 35 students learned about the functioning of the heart. In a no-signals condition, a text and diagram were presented in an unaltered fashion. In the signals-condition, correspondences between the representations were highlighted by means of labels, color coding, and deixis. The signals improved understanding of the correspondences between verbal and diagrammatic information as well as led to more attention being devoted to the diagrams. Moreover, diagrams were fixated earlier in the signals-compared to the no-signals condition. A mediation analysis showed that the changes in visual attention were sufficient to completely explain the effect of signals on learning outcomes. Hence, signals improve learning from text and diagrams by fostering learners' early reference to diagrams and by increasing the amount of attention devoted to them.
Diagrammatic Literacy in Secondary Science Education
Research in Science Education, 2013
Students in secondary science education seem to have difficulties with understanding diagrams. The present study focused on explanatory factors that predict students' difficulties with process diagrams, i.e., diagrams that describe a process consisting of components that are related by arrows. From 18 compulsory national Biology exams of secondary school pre-university students, all process diagram tasks (n064) were included in corpus. Features of the task, student, and diagram were related to the difficulty of that particular task, indicated by the cohort mean exam score. A hierarchical regression analysis showed main effects for (1) the cognitive task demand, (2) the familiarity of the components, and (3) the number of components in a diagram. All these main effects were in the expected direction. We also observed interactions. Within the category of tasks with a high cognitive demand, tasks about a diagram of which students have low prior content knowledge were more difficult than tasks about a diagram of which students have high prior content knowledge. Tasks with a high cognitive demand about a diagram with familiar arrows were, surprisingly, more difficult than tasks with a high cognitive demand about a diagram with unfamiliar arrows. This latter finding might be attributed to compensation for task difficulty by the large number of components in the diagrams involved. The final model explained 46 % of the variance in exam scores. These results suggest that students have difficulties (1) with tasks that require a deeper understanding when the content is new, (2) with diagrams that use unfamiliar component conventions, and (3) with diagrams that have a small number of components and are therefore probably more abstract.
We explored whether existing curricula can be adapted to increase students' skills at comprehending and learning from diagrams using an intervention delivered by regular middle-school teachers in intact classrooms. Ninety-two teachers in three states implemented our modified materials over six curricular units from two publishers: Holt (a reading-focused curriculum) and Full Option Science System (FOSS) (an inquiry-focused curriculum). Results were compared between two interventions-one based on selected principles of cognitive science (cognitive-science-based) that included instruction in diagram comprehension and one providing professional development in science content only (content-only)-and a business-as-usual control. We analyze posttest items involving different degrees of reliance on diagrams to show how instruction in diagram comprehension can improve comprehension of diagrams during reasoning. At the classroom level, there were significant advantages of the cognitive-science-based intervention over both content-only and business-as-usual with large effect sizes in all FOSS units (d = 0.41-0.52), but only one Holt unit (d = 0.11). Analyses by type of diagram suggested these effects were largest for transfer to diagrams from an uninstructed domain. Further analyses of high-stakes state test
THE RELEVANCE OF DIAGRAMS IN SCIENCE TEACHING AND LEARNING
Since time immemorial, the educational process debatably involves a mediated communication between teachers and learners to add sense or meaning making for both the stakeholders. The diagrams and various illustrations are the meaningful resource to mediate the educational journey. Diagrams can break out of the linear and systemic nature of printed text to show non-linear and systemic feature. In Science teaching and learning process, the use of diagrams is more relevant to make the representations of complex systems. Presently the pedagogy of Science is becoming modified from Linguistic methods to a mixed-visual methods supplemented with new techniques. Diagrams and diagramming are features of teaching and learning practices both as a means of Instruction and as a means of training learners in the use of diagrams that are features of many working and practicing teachers. There is also seemingly important need to make diagrams accessible and meaningful to students, quite contrary to the mechanical manner in which it is perceived and used by them. This paper discusses the Diagrams and their relevance in Science teaching and learning since they have different purposes and are required for understanding and communication.
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 2010
We varied the spatial features of adjunct displays that depicted a complex scientific system (i.e. human circulatory system). University students (n = 47), who were assigned randomly to a display condition before reading, selected relevant information from the text and wrote it (a) next to a list of definitions (list condition), (b) inside boxes organized to coincide with the sequence of blood flow (chart condition), or (c) on a picture of the heart (pictorial condition). Students in the chart and pictorial conditions had higher scores on 2 learning tests. Results supported the nonequivalence hypothesis, which states that a spatial display can promote learning more effectively than a list because a display's nonverbal (e.g. spatial) features explicitly depict relationships among a system's components. The results have implications for science educators.