Year: 2010
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Students may produce simple drawings that are similar in appearance (Figure 4) but mask wildly different mental models of the circulatory system.Figure 4a (Student A27) shows arrows entering the right and left atria at the top and arrows exiting the ventricles at the bottom.While pointing gestures index drawn and labeled elements such as the chambers and walls, no explanation of a time-varying process is provided, resulting in a very low score for the model (2 points out of 6).In contrast, Figure 4b (Student A14) shows a very similar drawing, with less detail (no labels) but through gesture and speech provides a rich account of the blood flow following two distinct pathways (from heart to lungs and back, and from heart to body and back) that receives a high score (6 out of 6 points).M)$ L/06-"$ I4$ )5*.)E$MNI3)$ 0")#6-")$ ,(&%1/4%''($ )/16'%#"$ 9'**,$ +'*.$ #*$ components of the system (e.g., lungs, body) that are not present in the drawing, but are invoked by gestures that move beyond the boundaries of the page. Several insights emerge from#5"$%&%'()/)$*+$ )#6,"&#)3$,-%./&0)$%&,$";2'%&%#/*&)7$O"#5*,*'*0/4%''(E$,-%./&0)$ %-"$ *&'($ %$ 2%-#$ *+$ %$ )#6,")$ -/45E$ 16'#/1*,%'$ 4*&)#-64#/*&$ %&,$ 16)#$ #5"-"+*-"$ 9"$ %))%(",$ /&$ #5"$ context of the associated verbal and nonverbal information.Other examples show that even elaborate diagrams with arrows and labels suggesting the occurrence and direction of dynamic processes have limited assessment value without co-expressive gestures and utterances.As part of an emerging theory of the nature and functions of drawings for knowledge assessment, we find that these multimodal constructions (psychological units to Vygotsky, 1986; growth points to McNeill, 1992; composite signals to Engle, 1998; and semiotic nodes to Radford et al., 2003) are particularly evident when conveying time-varying phenomenon and causal relations.
Authors: Wouter van Joolingen, Lars Bollen
Institution: University of Twente
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W17863572