The effects of visualizations on linguistically diverse students’ understanding of energy and matter in life science

Abstract

Although extensive research has shown the educational value of different types of interactive visualizations on students’ science learning in general, how such technologies can contribute to English learners’ (ELs) understanding of complex scientific concepts has not been sufficiently explored to date. This mixed‐methods study investigated how interactive dynamic and static visualizations embedded in web‐based inquiry instruction can support ELs and non‐ELs in developing a coherent understanding of energy and matter transformations in life science. A total of 331 seventh‐grade ELs and non‐ELs were randomly assigned to a dynamic or a static visualization condition. During inquiry instruction, students in the dynamic group explored interactive dynamic visualizations of energy and matter transformations; students in the static group explored static, yet otherwise equivalent, interactive visualizations. The results show that, while both forms of visualizations were beneficial for students, dynamic visualizations had significant advantages for improving all students’ understanding of the target concepts. Our analyses of video data revealed that ELs and non‐ELs in the dynamic condition engaged in more talk turns to interpret the scientific phenomena using both visual and textual representations, whereas ELs and non‐ELs in the static condition appeared to rely on textual information to obtain new ideas about the scientific phenomena from the visualization. Compared to the static group, students in the dynamic group also more successfully evaluated and consolidated a range of ideas to develop coherent scientific explanations using evidence from the visualization. This study provides evidence that interactive dynamic visualizations have promise for supporting science learning for all students, including ELs who are often underserved in mainstream science classrooms. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 10: 1274–1301, 2017

Increasing Student Accounting Self‐Efficacy, Interest, and Knowledge Using the DuPont Model

“…Because the DuPont Model is integrative in nature and involves diagramming the DuPont Model on a whiteboard, students are able to visualize the connections between the financial statements at one end of the model and the financial ratios at the other end, thereby seeing the accounting concepts as a single set of interrelated concepts. These results provide evidence of the benefits of visualization as a means for helping students “integrate information” (Zhang & Linn, 2011, p. 1177), a practice that has proven to be effective in other settings where educators face similar challenges as those in accounting education (Chang & Linn, 2013; Rau, 2017; Rumanová & Drábeková, 2019; Ryoo & Bedell, 2017; Vitale, McBride, & Linn, 2016).…”

Emerging technologies as pedagogical tools for teaching and learning science: A literature review

“…Out of the 14 articles published at Journal of Research in Science Teaching (top journal in the field), 2 studies used video games (Israel et al, ; Sadler et al, ), 10 integrated simulations (Bell & Trundle, ; Chao et al, ; Chen et al, ; Gerard, Spitulnik, & Linn, 2010; Hmelo‐Silver et al, ; Jaakkola et al, ; Mulder, Bollen, de Jong, & Lazonder, ; Plass et al, ; Quellmalz, Timms, Silberglitt, & Buckley, ; Scalise & Clarke‐Midura, ), and 2 used interactive dynamic visualizations (Ryoo & Bedell, ; Ryoo & Linn, ). The video games targeted topics such as cell anatomy and functions, genes and inheritance (Israel et al, ), and one was in the form of a virtual biotechnology lab (Sadler et al, ).…”

Supporting linguistically diverse students' science learning with dynamic visualizations through discourse‐rich practices

“…Through extensive research over the last 20 years, the KI framework has been shown to be effective in helping students evaluate multiple ideas presented in dynamic visualizations and in facilitating student learning across science topics, including thermodynamics (Davis, ), global climate change (Raes, Schellens, & De Wever, ), chemistry (Chiu & Linn, ), and ecosystems (Clark, Touchman, Martinez‐Garza, Ramirez‐Marin, & Drews, ). Recent studies provide evidence that the KI framework has the potential to engage both ELLs and non‐ELLs in various science practices to understand and link abstract scientific concepts, such as constructing explanations, using evidence for argumentation, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information (e.g., Ryoo & Bedell, ; Ryoo, Toutkoushian, & Bedell, ).…”

“…For instance, Molenaar, Sleegers, and van Boxtel () found that students who were prompted to elicit ideas about metacognition strategies engaged in more conversations about planning their learning tasks and monitoring their progress when compared to students who received direct explanations during collaborative learning. ELLs also need to negotiate how to integrate different views into written explanations to represent their understanding of the target concepts with their partners (e.g., Levy, ; Ryoo & Bedell, ; van Joolingen, de Jong, & Dimitrakopoulou, ). Such processes can help ELLs use “the language of the science classroom” (Lee, Quinn, & Valdés, p. 221) in multiple ways to articulate and communicate their ideas.…”