Abstract
Using external representations (ERs) to foster content understanding in biology education has increased as they allow for the visualization of abstract biological phenomena. However, the extent to which students have visualization skills required to learn from ERs effectively remains an open question. The current quantitative quasi-experimental research sought to determine the extent to which an animation could be used to enhance students’ visualization skills and reduce learning difficulties related to basic concepts of mitosis. Participants were 67 Grade 10 purposively selected learners from a South African school. An assessment test was used for data collection. Results showed that exposure to an animation, as an additional learning tool, improved students’ visualization skills while reducing visualization difficulties related to basic concepts of mitosis. We conclude that ERs may enhance students’ visualization skills, reduce learning difficulties and improve content understanding. ERs may also be used in broader student development which includes visual literacy.
Highlights
In his cognitive theory of multimedia learning, Mayer (2014, p. 1) states that "people learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone." the use of external representations (ERs) in biology education has increased significantly over the last fifty years (Anderson et al, 2013; Mnguni, 2019a)
The findings are important for teachers and instructional designers who have adopted animations as part of their online teaching tools
The pre-test results showed that both groups had relatively poor visualization skills related to basic concepts of mitosis
Summary
In his cognitive theory of multimedia learning, Mayer (2014, p. 1) states that "people learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone." the use of external representations (ERs) in biology education has increased significantly over the last fifty years (Anderson et al, 2013; Mnguni, 2019a). 1) states that "people learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone." the use of external representations (ERs) in biology education has increased significantly over the last fifty years (Anderson et al, 2013; Mnguni, 2019a). ERs refer to discipline-specific semiotics (Mnguni, 2019a), which are processed through predominantly nonverbal, visual cognitive processes described in the dual coding theory (Mayer, 2014; Paivio, 2007). ERs include learning aids such as written text, diagrams, pictures, symbols, and animations, which are used to represent scientific phenomena for communicating, teaching, learning, and research. Researchers, instructional and curriculum designers rely on “a complex system of semiotics, which includes written language, images, and symbols to represent discipline-specific knowledge” This study is necessitated by the increasing use of online learning, which utilizes ERs such as animations
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