Concrete Visual Representations Research Articles

The potential power of “studygram”: Concrete visual representations may increase student motivation, engagement, and enjoyment of routine course assignments

AbstractStudents are often unmotivated to engage with their online coursework. Research has shown that concretely visualizing one's goals (e.g., photo‐taking) can improve motivation to learn. This study explored the effect of taking a photo of one's study space (i.e., a studygram photo similar to a post on Instagram) on students' motivation to start, engagement with, and enjoyment of routine assignments. In a within‐subjects design, students took a photo of their study space before starting or after completing the assignment or took no photo. Data were collected from six undergraduate courses across three disciplines (Education, Psychology, and Theatre). Results revealed that students in an online Education course completing routine and formulaic assignments were significantly more motivated to start their coursework when they took a photo compared to when they did not. Results were similar for student engagement and enjoyment. Outcomes were replicated in the course's second iteration but were not found in the Psychology or Theatre courses. Differences between the courses' formatting may have lessened the impact of photo‐taking on students' experiences. Together our results suggest that motivation and engagement with routine coursework may be influenced by an easy‐to‐implement visualization intervention under certain circumstances. Potential implications for teaching are reviewed.

Visualizing Source-Code Evolution for Understanding Class-Wide Programming Processes

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in online classes, and programming classes are no exception. In such a learning environment, understanding every student’s programming process is mostly impractical for teachers, despite its significance in supporting students. Giving teachers feedback on programming processes is a typical approach to the problem. However, few studies have focused on visual representations of the evolution process of source-code contents; it remains unclear what visual representation would be effective to this end and how teachers value such feedback. We propose two feedback tools for teachers. These tools visualize the temporal evolution of source-code contents at different granularities. An experiment was conducted in which several university teachers performed a user evaluation of the tools, particularly with regard to their usefulness for reviewing past programming classes taught by another teacher. Questionnaire results showed that these tools are helpful for understanding programming processes. The tools were also found to be complementary, with different aspects being highly evaluated. We successfully presented concrete visual representations of programming processes as well as their relative strengths and weaknesses for reviewing classes; this contribution may serve as a basis for future real-time use of these tools in class.

The impact of annotation on concrete and abstract visual representations in science education: testing the expertise reversal effect

This study investigates the effects of annotation on abstract and concrete visual representations in science education. Two studies were conducted: Study 1 investigated the interaction between annotation and visual representations. The results of this study demonstrated that in science learning, annotation with abstract visual representations was superior to annotation with concrete visual representations. Study 2 tested the expertise reversal effect in a three-factor design where the interaction among annotation, visual representation, and prior knowledge was measured. The findings showed that high-prior-knowledge learners performed better in the annotation-abstract visual condition than in the annotation-concrete visual condition where low-prior-knowledge learners showed the opposite outcome—confirming that the expertise reversal effect is at play in how science learners utilize visual information. The study has clarified the roles of prior knowledge, visual representation, and instructional strategy on learner cognitive processing in science education. This knowledge should prove useful for educators as they engage in the design and development of computer-based science learning.

Use of 3D Printers for Teacher Training and Sample Activities

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of 3D (3-dimensional) printing activities on pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy in technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) and their views of 3D printing activities. The study sample consisted of 39 students of science education, classroom teaching and preschool teaching departments of the faculty of education. An exploratory sequential mixed method design was used. In the quantitative part, a one group pre-test post-test design was used, and data were analysed using statistical methods. In the qualitative part, phenomenology was used, and data were analysed using content analysis. Results showed that 3D printing activities improved participants’ self-efficacy in TPCK. Participants stated that 3D printers helped them develop skills in many areas and that 3D printer teaching materials contributed to both learning and teaching. The majority of participants had positive views on the effect of 3D objects on learning. They stated that 3D objects turned abstract concepts into concrete visual representations, facilitated learning, made lessons enjoyable, provided learning retention, encouraged them to learn more about their fields, increased their interest, and helped them develop creative thinking and design skills, and thus, create different content-specific educational materials.

CONCEPT MAPPING AS A TOOL FOR MEANINGFUL LEARNING

Concept maps have now been used as a research and evaluation tool. It enables students to visualize the structure of knowledge, interrelated concepts and the relationships among various concepts and sub-concepts. Concept mapping has been found to be an effective teaching method which enhances meaningful learning. Concept mapping was significantly more effective than the traditional or expository teaching strategies in enhancing learning. Cognitive mapping differs from traditional methods by making underlying cognitive structures transparent and giving a focus to the set of propositions by which learners construct meaning. Concept map structure correlates with the perceived data. They provide quick summary and help to identify topics to elicit new information. Concept mapping is a strategy that can be used to impart content knowledge with sense within a limited period of time.Concepts learned by rote learning tends to be quickly forgotten. Teaching methods and tools should transform knowledge from short-term memory to long-term memory. Several research studies have supported Concept mapping in academic and non-academic fields. This article describes how the concept mapping can be used to transform abstract knowledge and understanding into concrete visual representations. It is underlined that the Concept maps will serve as a suitable tool to support educators in promoting students comprehension and understanding of new concepts.

A Hippocampal–Entorhinal System Inspired Model for Visual Concept Representation

Visual concepts play a significant role in human cognition. The question of how past experience guides the formation of the visual concept system has been contentious for decades. There have been exciting recent progresses on concept learning and visual understanding. Despite the great advances, the previous models ignored the manner of visual concepts organization and representation in the brain. The semantic concepts in these models are not grounded on concrete visual representations. In this article, we propose a novel framework named visual concept space model (VCSM) by drawing inspiration from the hippocampal-entorhinal system. Specifically, we extend the role of the hippocampal-entorhinal system from spatial navigation to visual concept space. The proposed model provides a spatial representation format for visual concepts. The semantic concepts in the VCSM are explicitly built on visual representations. Once trained, VCSM can infer the visual attributes of input images and reconstruct diverse images from given concepts. Comprehensive experimental results on 3-D Chairs and Extended Yale Face Database B demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model.

Multi-modal scenarios revisited: A net-based representation

Live sequence charts (LSC) is a visual formalism that can be used to model reactive systems. In terms of LSC, a system model is a set of charts, each of which may be referred to as a multi-modalscenario. In this paper, we revisit the scenarios of the UML2-compliant dialect of LSC. We abstract from their concrete visual representation, and show how to capture multi-modal scenarios in a flexible, yet conservative, way. For this, we use the building blocks of Petri nets; i.e., places and transitions, extended with modalities and interpreted in accordance with the semantics of LSC. This results in what we refer to as LSC nets. LSC nets can express a variety of advanced constructs of LSC, as well as several semantic variations suggested in the literature, with just a few primitive notions. At the same time, the net corresponding to an LSC involves rather superficial, technical, changes in presentation. As a result, LSC nets form a rigorous basis to present, discuss, and investigate the language as a whole, or interesting fragments thereof.

Teaching with concrete and abstract visual representations: Effects on students' problem solving, problem representations, and learning perceptions.

In 3 experiments, we examined the effects of using concrete and/or abstract visual problem representations during instruction on students' problem-solving practice, near transfer, problem representations, and learning perceptions. In Experiments 1 and 2, novice students learned about electrical circuit analysis with an instructional program that included worked-out and practice problems represented with abstract (Group A), concrete (Group C), or abstract and concrete diagrams (Group AC), whereby the cover stories were abstract in Group A and concrete in Groups C and AC. Experiment 3 added a 4th condition (C-A) with a concrete cover story and abstract diagrams. Group AC outperformed Groups A and C on problem-solving practice in Experiments 1 and 2 and outperformed Group C on transfer across the 3 experiments; Group AC also outperformed Group C-A in Experiment 3. Further, Group A outperformed Group C on transfer in Experiments 2 and 3 and outperformed Group C-A in Experiment 3. Transfer scores were positively associated with the quality of the diagrams and the number of abstract representations drawn during the transfer test. Data on students' learning perceptions suggest that the advantage of Group AC relies on the combined cognitive support of both representations. Our studies indicate that problem solving is fostered when learners experience concrete visual representations that connect to their prior knowledge and are enabled to use abstract visual representations

Lateral biases in lighting of abstract artwork

Previous studies examining perceptual biases in art have revealed that paintings tend to be lit from above and to the left. images provide a way of testing for the left-light bias while controlling for cues such as posing biases, ground line, shadows, and reflections. A total of 42 participants completed a task that required moving a “virtual flashlight” across the surface of abstract images presented on a computer screen: 20 images (presented both right-side-up and upside down) were used in the study. The participant's only instruction was to “light the painting in a way that is most aesthetically pleasing to you”. As predicted, participants on average focused the “virtual flashlight” in the top left quadrant. This study reveals that lateral lighting biases in artwork are not dependent on perception of local light source or interactions with discrete, concrete visual representations in the artwork.

Can direct manipulation lower the barriers to computer programming and promote transfer of training?

Novices face many barriers when learning to program a computer, including the need to learn both a new syntax and a model of computation. By constraining syntax and providing concrete visual representations on which to operate, direct manipulation programming environments can potentially lower these barriers. However, what if the ultimate learning goal of the novice is to be able to program in conventional textual languages, as is the case for introductory computer science students? Can direct manipulation programming environments lower the initial barriers to programming, and, at the same time, facilitate positive transfer to textual programming? To address this question, we designed a new direct manipulation programming interface for novices, and conducted an experimental study to compare the programming processes and outcomes promoted by the direct manipulation interface against those promoted by a textual programming interface. We found that the direct manipulation interface promoted significantly better initial programming outcomes, positive transfer to the textual interface, and significant differences in programming processes. Our results show that direct manipulation interfaces can provide novices with a “way in” to traditional textual programming.

Making learning visible: the role of concept mapping in higher education

This article develops the concept‐mapping method as a tool for enhancing teaching quality in higher education. In particular, it describes how concept mapping can be used to transform abstract knowledge and understanding into concrete visual representations that are amenable to comparison and measurement. The article describes four important uses of the method: the identification of prior knowledge (and prior‐knowledge structure) among students; the presentation of new material in ways that facilitate meaningful learning; the sharing of ‘expert’ knowledge and understanding among teachers and learners; and the documentation of knowledge change to show integration of student prior knowledge and teaching. The authors discuss the implications of their approach in the broader context of university level teaching. It is not suggested that university teachers should abandon any of their tried and tested methods of teaching, but it is shown how the quality of what they do can be significantly enhanced by the use of concept mapping.

Attitudes and Emotions of German Police Officers towards the Mentally Ill

Police officers' attitudes and emotions regarding the mentally ill are examined. The results are compared with a socio-demographically similar sample of non-police officers. 207 participants were asked about their attitudes and emotions towards the mentally ill. Of the participants, 105 were police officers of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg (Germany), 102 were civil servants. Social distance is greater when there is a concrete visual representation of the mentally ill person, ie in the movie clips, than when it is measured abstractly, which suggests that pencil-and-paper studies underestimate the extent of social distance towards the mentally ill. Police officers and non-police officers have similar attitudes towards the mentally ill. An exception is social distance towards mental patients. Police officers show a greater social distance towards the mentally ill, and a smaller social distance towards people who are emotionally upset but mentally healthy, than non-police officers. Frequently emotional reactions to mental patients are compassion, discomfort and the desire to help. Police officers feel significantly less insecure towards the mentally ill than non-police officers.

Mapping from a Different Direction: Mandala as Sacred Spatial Visualization

Spatial visualization serves as a key cartographic device for relaying representative information about that part of space portrayed, creating an ordered presentation of patterns that instruct the observer. This research explores the function of a mandala as a cognitive graphic of sacred space. The purpose of the comparison is to expand notions underlying assumptions of cartographic portrayal, space, and contestation affecting both cartography and religious geography. Opposing schools of thought in cartography dispute the role of maps as based on observable phenomena or maps as mental terrain. Exploration of the mandala as an instrument in Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies, as representative of sacred maps, illustrates its function in an expanded category of emancipatory and culturally contested space, broadening the power of cartographic depiction and contextualizing its creation.Visualization is foremost an act of cognition, a human ability to develop mental representations that allow geographers to identify patterns and to create or impose order … Concrete visual representations … make spatial contexts … visible, so as to engage the most powerful human informationprocessing abilities, those associated with vision. —MacEachren et al., 1992Every map is a cultural construction that geographers, scientists, and artists alike create to make and convey meaning. —Bender et al., 2004

Mathematical Thinking Involved in U.S. and Chinese Students' Solving of Process-Constrained and Process-Open Problems

This study examined U.S. and Chinese 6th-grade students' mathematical thinking and reasoning involved in solving 6 process-constrained and 6 process-open problems. The Chinese sample (from Guiyang, Guizhou) had a significantly higher mean score than the U.S. sample (from Milwaukee, Wisconsin) on the process-constrained tasks, but the sample of U.S. students had a significantly higher mean score than the sample of the Chinese students on the process-open tasks. A qualitative analysis of students' responses was conducted to understand the mathematical thinking and reasoning involved in solving these problems. The qualitative results indicate that the Chinese sample preferred to use routine algorithms and symbolic representations, whereas the U.S. sample preferred to use concrete visual representations. Such a qualitative analysis of students' responses provided insights into U.S. and Chinese students' mathematical thinking, thereby facilitating interpretation of the cross-national differences in solving the process-constrained and process-open problems.

Direct manipulation

Direct manipulation is a style of interaction which has been used by implementers of widely varying systems. Direct manipulation permits novice users access to powerful facilities without the burden of learning to use a complex syntax and lengthy list of commands. Display editors use direct manipulation more than line editors. Form-fill-in is more direct than tag fields and delimiters. Spatial data management is more direct than query-by-example, which is more direct than SEQUEL. Computer arcade games and Visicalc are further examples.Direct manipulation involves three interrelated techniques:1. Provide a physically direct way of moving a cursor or manipulating the objects of interest.2. Present a concrete visual representation of the objects of interest and immediately change the view to reflect operations.3. Avoid using a command language and depend? on operations applied to the cognitive model which is shown on the display.