The role of pictures in learning biology: Part 2, picture—text processing

Reid, David

doi:10.1080/00219266.1990.9655153

Cited by 21 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…For instance, some studies show that students consider more useful, for the understanding of a scientific concept, diagrams and not photographs, which could hide implicit messages not easily decipherable [19]. Other studies show that images may produce an effect contrary to that intended by the authors themselves, unavoidably altering the traditional function attributed to images of helping the explanation of a concept [57,58]. To this respect, some authors [59] suggested that textbooks images do not always provide students with a suitable textual or graphical context for making sense of graphs or diagrams, often isolated and not connected to other representations that would convey the same information.…”

Section: A Students' Interpretation Of Science Visual Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing the use of visual representations to explain basic astronomy phenomena

Galano

Colantonio

Leccia³

et al. 2018

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] Several decades of research have contributed to our understanding of students' reasoning about astronomical phenomena. Some authors have pointed out the difficulty in reading and interpreting images used in school textbooks as factors that may justify the persistence of misconceptions. However, only a few studies have investigated to what extent usual textbook images influence students' understanding of such phenomena. This study examines this issue, exploring 13-14 year old students' explanations, drawings, and conceptions about three familiar phenomena: change of seasons, Moon phases, and solar or lunar eclipses. The research questions that guided the study were (RQ1) how are students' explanations and visual representations about familiar astronomical phenomena affected by different image-support conditions? (RQ2) How are students' conceptions about familiar astronomical phenomena affected by different image-support conditions? (RQ3) Which features of the used images most affected the students' visual representations and explanations of familiar astronomical phenomena? To answer our research questions, we designed three instructional contexts under increasing support conditions: textbook images and text, teaching booklets with specially designed images and text, only text. To analyze students' drawings, we used exploratory factor analysis to deconstruct drawings into their most salient elements. To analyze students' explanations, we adopted a constant comparison method identifying different levels of increasing knowledge. To investigate students' conceptions, we used a mixed multiple-choice and true false baseline questionnaire. For RQ1, results show that the specially designed images condition was effective in helping students producing informed drawings in comparison to text-only condition for all phenomena, and more effective than textbook images condition when one considers seasonal change drawings. Concerning RQ2, the specially designed images condition was the most effective for all phenomena. Concerning RQ3, prevalent elements of astronomy images that affected students' explanations and visual representations were Earth's elliptical orbit; the position of the Sun with respect to the Moon orbit; and Sun, Moon, and Earth alignment. Our findings confirm concerns about textbook astronomy images, whose features may interfere with the identification of the relevant factors underlying the phenomena. Moreover, findings of this study suggest that affordances of the specially designed images may play an essential role in scaffolding meaningful understanding of the targeted phenomena. Implications for teaching through and learning from visual representations in astronomy education are briefly discussed.

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Section: A Students' Interpretation Of Science Visual Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing the use of visual representations to explain basic astronomy phenomena

Galano

Colantonio

Leccia³

et al. 2018

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In some other studies a general positive effect of pictures has been found (Reid 1990a). More detailed studies have shown that pictures increase comprehension if explained in the text, and that the content of pictures not explained in the text was not learned at all (Reid, 1990b;Hannus. 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Apparently pictures have a strong positive effect on recalling things, but not necessarily on understanding. Abstract concepts are learned rather from text than from pictures, and pictures do not necessarily promote learning concepts (Reid 1990a;1990b;Rasch & Snotz, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Above-average ability pupils benefit from pictures but among below-average ability students learning is impaired. Obviously pictures disturb concentration on the text in below-average ability pupils (Hannus, 1996;Reid, 1990b). A possible explanation is found in cognitive load theory: pictures mean an extraneous cognitive load, which means a decrease in working memory capacity (Cook, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other meaning making resources are the textbook text and teacher's talk. Picture and text interaction is very important in reading textbook pictures (Reid, 1990b). Main text and picture captions are a resource in making sense of the picture.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A phenomenological view of pictures in teaching and a novel method for analysing them

Käpylä

2014

NorDiNa

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In this paper a novel method for analysing the content and teaching potential of pictures is presented. It is the four-field method, which is based on phenomenological thoughts about human experience, which combines factual knowledge with emotions and personal and social meanings. A biological example is given. Around this idea a course unit for using pictures in science teaching was organized. It was used in the training of both primary and secondary level teachers. From picture analysis the course unit proceeds to planning the use of pictures in teaching. A classification of the teaching functions of pictures is presented.

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The use of educational comics in learning anatomy among multiple student groups

Kim

Chung

Jang

2016

Anatomical Sciences Ed

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Understanding basic human anatomy can be beneficial for all students, regardless of when, or if, they will later undertake a formal course in the subject. For students who are preparing to undertake a formal anatomy course, educational comics on basic anatomy can serve as a concise and approachable review of the material. For other students, these comics can serve as a helpful and fun introduction to the human body. The objective of the comics in this study was to promote an understanding of fundamental human anatomy through self-learning among students. Based on the authors' previous teaching experience, these anatomy comics were produced in a simple, direct style. The comics were titled after the two main characters, "Anna" (a girl) and "Tommy" (a boy). These comics were then presented to groups of elementary school students, high school students, premedical students, and medical students to assess the comics' ability to enhance student interest and comprehension of basic anatomy. Quiz scores among high school students and premedical students were significantly higher among participants who read the educational comics, indicating a deeper comprehension of the subject. Among medical students, close reading of the comics was associated with improved course grades. These educational anatomy comics may be helpful tools to enrich a broad spectrum of different students in learning basic human anatomy. Anat Sci Educ 10: 79-86. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.

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The role of pictures in learning biology: Part 2, picture—text processing

Cited by 21 publications

References 24 publications

Developing the use of visual representations to explain basic astronomy phenomena

Developing the use of visual representations to explain basic astronomy phenomena

A phenomenological view of pictures in teaching and a novel method for analysing them

The use of educational comics in learning anatomy among multiple student groups

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