Making Learning A Never-Ending Story

This article is about "illustrations that instruct".

This article deals with the creation of large murals to teach or reinforce sometimes difficult concepts learned by the students in a science classroom. The author believes that “illustrations that instruct”, as first put forth by Richard Mayer’s reference groundwork in 1993, can use scientific drawings to capture information pictorially and aid student understanding immensely. This technique can be used to help teach or reinforce a single concept in the Concept Development phase of a Learning Cycle, and it can be employed in the Expansion phase of the Learning Cycle to extend a concept or tie several related concepts together in a more general sense. I feel it could even be used in the Exploration phase of the Learning Cycle, as in the habitat drawings of the Learning Cycle I prepared for the Project Wet, Wild, and Learning Tree class we just concluded. I chose this article because I believe based on my own teaching experience that making murals and pictorial representations of science concepts can greatly enhance student understanding, and that article supports my view and also lends itself to use in Learning Cycles. I have in the past had students make murals or large-scale flow charts of topics ranging from the taxonomic diversity of life to the geologic time scale.

More research is cited in the article, such as Edens and Potter (2003) that supports this technique as a viable way for students to learn scientific concepts, and the author himself reports that his ninth grade biology classes produced the highest Biology End-Of-Course (EOC) test scores in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg (North Carolina) schools beginning in 1994. Since then other teachers in the area have adopted his methods with similar results.

The author feels it is important to take a narration or concept and adapt it to visual images, and he refers to this process as diagramming. He lists three rules that must be followed:

The direction and relationships of the components of the concept must be made clear using relevant connectors (arrows with reasons written across them).
Diagrams should dominate.
Explanations must accompany every picture.

Rough drafts are done on connected sheets of 8.5 x 11 inch paper that can be folded accordion-style into students’ notebooks. After several revisions, the final drafts are done on large, scrolling butcher paper. Stencils may be provided and colors are not applied until everything is penciled in first. Students usually present their final projects in class as well.

The author states that diagramming helps toward meeting the National Science Education Standards’ vision of a scientifically literate populace, and he feels strongly that no technique he has used has been as well received or used more successfully in this way. Specifically, the K-12 Unifying Concepts and Processes Standards that “provide students with productive and insightful ways of thinking about and integrating a range of basic ideas that explain the natural and designed world” are well addressed with this activity. It also satisfies four of the five components of National Science Education Content Standard E concerning technological design:

Design a solution or product.
Implement a proposed design.
Evaluate completed technological designs or products.
Communicate the process of technological design.

In conclusion, I agree that diagramming is a valuable tool for the science teacher and student that can enhance the student’s grasp of a science concept. I base this opinion on my own experience, as well as this article and the additional research referenced within it. I also feel that this technique can be useful in developing and expanding a concept, or linking two or more concepts together, from one or more Learning Cycles, thereby making this article relevant to this course.

Bibliographic Note:

Ralph T. Pillsbury, "Making Learning A Never-Ending Story", Science Scope, December 2006, Volume 30, Number 4, pages 22-26.