Drawing to learn: How producing graphical representations enhances scientific thinking.

Abstract

When we understand something, we say that we “see” it. We arrive at the solution to a problem through “insight.” Such metaphors likening cognitive processes to visual experience suggest a close correspondence between how we think about and how we see the world. Accordingly, major theoretical advances in the sciences have been frequently accompanied by the development of novel visualization tools and graphical conventions (e.g., the periodic table). Today, knowing how to make a graph is a critical component of any practicing scientist’s repertoire, allowing her to gain insight when exploring a complex data set, and to communicate empirical findings to other scientists and the public. This paper reviews evidence from the cognitive science and educational research literatures that bears on the question of how drawing, the most basic visualization technique, interacts with cognitive functions that are core to scientific thinking, including: observation, problemsolving, explanation, and communication. Expanding the role of graphical literacy in science education may carry the potential to better reveal to students the dynamic and inquiry-based nature of scientific thinking, especially in contexts where visual representations have traditionally been subordinate to linguistic and numerical representations.