The impact of active visualisation of high school students on the ability to memorise verbal definitions

Doba vizualnih komunikacij vpliva na spoznavne strategije posameznika. Temu se mora prilagajati tudi šolstvo, zato se pojavljajo vprašanja, povezana z uporabo vizualizacije v izobraževanju. V raziskavi smo ugotavljali vpliv vizualizacije na sposobnost pomnjenja besedila. V teoretskem delu najprej opredelimo pojem vizualizacije, definiramo pojem aktivne vizualizacije, analiziramo vizualizacijo kot način pridobivanja in posredovanja znanja ter opredelimo oblike vizualizacij (podobotvorne in oblikotvorne analogije), pri čemer največ pozornosti namenimo podobotvornim šablonam. V empirični raziskavi nato izvedemo eksperiment, v katerem pri dijakih merimo učinke vizualizacije na sposobnost pomnjenja težko razumljive besedne definicije. Glede na teoretične ugotovitve si zastavimo dve hipotezi. V prvi predvidevamo, da bo večina vizualizacij, ki jih bodo tvorili učenci, podobotvornih šablon. Hipoteza temelji na predvidevanjih, da ljudje v vizualizaciji spontano uporabljamo podobotvorne analogije in kulturno priučene sheme, torej podobotvorne šablone. V drugi hipotezi pa predvidevamo, da bodo aktivne vizualizacije statistično pomembno pripomogle k pomnjenju besedne definicije. Ta hipoteza temelji na predvidevanjih, da kombinacija čutnih izkustev verbalnega in vizualnega krepi kognitivne sposobnosti pri učenju. Obe hipotezi smo v raziskavi potrdili. Ker smo v preučevali le vpliv najbolj spontanih vizualizacij, to je podobotvornih šablon, se odpirajo nadaljnje možnosti raziskovanja vizualizacij, pri katerih bi bil večji poudarek na kultivaciji likovnega jezika, to je na oblikotvorni kompleksnosti.The era of visual communication influences the cognitive strategies of the individual. Education, too, must adjust to these changes, which raises questions regarding the use of visualisation in teaching. In the present study, we examine the impact of visualisation on the ability of high school students to memorise text. In the theoretical part of the research, we first clarify the concept of visualisation. We define the concept of active visualisation and visualisation as a means of acquiring and conveying knowledge, and we describe the different kinds of visualisation (appearance-based analogies and form-based analogies), specifically defining appearance-based schemata visualisations (where imagery is articulated in a typical culturally trained manner). In the empirical part of the research, we perform an experiment in which we evaluate the effects of visualisation on students’ ability to memorise a difficult written definition. According to the theoretical findings, we establish two hypotheses. In the first, we assume that the majority of the visualisations that students form will be appearance-based schemata visualisations. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that, in visualisation, people spontaneously use analogies based on imagery and schemas that are typical of their society. In the second hypothesis, we assume that active visualisation will contribute to the students’ ability to memorise text in a statistically significant way. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that the combination of verbal and visual experiences enhances cognitive learning. Both hypotheses were confirmed in the research. As our study only dealt with the impact of the most spontaneous type of appearancebased schemata visualisations, we see further possibilities in researching the influence of visualisations that are more complex formally