What You See Is What You Learn? The Role of Visual Model Comprehension for Academic Success in Chemistry

Autor/inn/en	Dickmann, Thomas; Opfermann, Maria; Dammann, Elmar; Lang, Martin; Rumann, Stefan
Titel	What You See Is What You Learn? The Role of Visual Model Comprehension for Academic Success in Chemistry
Quelle	In: Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 20 (2019) 4, S.804-820 (17 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Opfermann, Maria)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1756-1108
DOI	10.1039/c9rp00016j
Schlagwörter	Science Instruction; Models; Visualization; Visual Stimuli; Teaching Methods; College Freshmen; College Science; Chemistry; Scientific Concepts; Concept Formation; Grades (Scholastic); Knowledge Level; Prior Learning; Foreign Countries; Textbooks; Comprehension; Student Characteristics; Germany + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Analogiemodell; Visualisation; Visualisierung; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Studienanfänger; Chemie; Concept learning; Begriffsbildung; Notenspiegel; Wissensbasis; Vorkenntnisse; Ausland; Textbook; Text book; Schulbuch; Lehrbuch; Verstehen; Verständnis; Deutschland
Abstract	Visualizations and visual models are of substantial importance for science learning (Harrison and Treagust, 2000), and it seems impossible to study chemistry without visualizations. More specifically, the combination of visualizations with text is especially beneficial for learning when dual coding is fostered (Mayer, 2014). However, at the same time, comprehending the visualizations and visual models appears to be rather difficult for learners (e.g., Johnstone, 2000). This may be one reason for the difficulties students experience especially during the university entry phase, which in a worst-case-scenario can result in high university drop-out rates as they are currently found in science-related study courses (Chen, 2013). In this regard, our study investigates, how the ability to handle and learn with visualizations -- which we call visual model comprehension -- relates to academic success at the beginning of chemistry studies. To do so, we collected the data of 275 chemistry-freshmen during their first university year. Our results show that visual model comprehension is a key factor for students to be successful in chemistry courses. For instance, visual model comprehension is able to predict exam grades in introductory chemistry courses as well as general chemistry content knowledge. Furthermore, our analyses point out that visual model comprehension acts as a mediator for the relation between prior knowledge and (acquired) content knowledge in chemistry studies. Given this obvious importance of visual model comprehension, our findings could give valuable insights regarding approaches to foster chemistry comprehension and learning especially for students at the beginning of their academic career. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Royal Society of Chemistry. Thomas Graham House, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WF, UK. Tel: +44-1223 420066; Fax: +44-1223 423623; e-mail: cerp@rsc.org; Web site: http://www.rsc.org/cerp
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01