A picture is worth a single word?
An analysis of textbook
visualizations in the life sciences
Erika Offerdahl, Jessie Arneson, Jordyn Hull
North Dakota State University
14 July 2012
2
Visual Representation: The Heart and
Soul of Science
http://science.howstuffworks.com
US Global Change Research Program
Tavares et al. 2011.
14 July 2012
Campbell, Biology 8th Edition
Undergraduate Curriculum Should Emphasize
Core Competencies & Disciplinary Practice
3
#3 Ability to use modeling and
simulations
#5 Ability to communicate and
collaborate


Visual thinking is a core
underpinning.
Development of visual thinking is
seldom an explicit learning
outcome.
AAAS 2011.
14 July 2012
What is visual thinking?
4




Decode symbolic language
Translate horizontally across multiple representations
Translate vertically between representations
Interpret and use representations
e.g. Ainsworth 2006, Rundgren & Tibell
2010, Schönborn & Anderson142010,
July 2012
Trumbo 1999
5
How are visual thinking skills
developed?



Implicit assumption that visual thinking is “picked up”
in the curriculum
Recent work examining textbook figures has
examined the alignment between representations
and “what scientists do”. (Duncan et al. 2011, Rybarczyk 2011).
But few have fully unpacked how information is
represented.
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Research Questions
7
To what degree do textbook visualizations
(1) require students to translate across levels of
organization and/or abstraction?
(2) make explicit the transition between levels?
14 July 2012
6 biology texts
(Duncan et al. 2011)
3 biochemistry
texts
8
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Levels of Biological Organization
9
Subatomic (SAT)
Molecular (MOL)
Macromolecular (MML)
Multi-Macromolecular (MMM)
Subcellular (SUB)
Cellular (CEL)
Multi-Cellular (MCE)
Organismal (ORG)
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Types of abstraction
10
Graph
Symbolic
 Schematic
Cartoon
 Cartoon
Schematic
Map
 Photograph
Graph
 Symbolic

C6H1206
ARG
Photograph
Map
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Levels of Biological Organization
11
p=0.515
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Levels of Biological Organization
12
Molecules of Life: Proteins
1 level
>1 level
Explicit
BIOL
69%
31%
70%
BIOC
86%
14%
43%
P<0.001
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13
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Levels of Biological Organization
14
p=0.002
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Levels of Biological Organization
15
Transport
1 level
>1 level
Explicit
BIOL
23%
77%
8%
BIOC
31%
69%
10%
P=0.151
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Levels of Biological Organization
16
All biomolecules, transport, signaling
(N=1348)
1 level
>1 level
Explicit
BIOL
51%
48%
9%
BIOC
72%
28%
17%
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Types of Abstraction
17
P<0.001
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Types of Abstraction
18
1 type
2 types
3 or more
BIOL
(N=409)
39%
48%
12%
BIOC
(N=939)
62%
32%
7%
P<0.001
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Summary
19



Majority represent only a single level of biological
organization
Transition across levels is largely implicit
Majority of abstractions (in cell & molecular) are
cartoons, schematic, and symbolic.
 What
about “big” biology?
 Lack of support for quantitative reasoning?
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Future Work
20



What is the nature of expert representations (see
Dr. Clara Kim at Poster #133!)
How do we characterize how the relationships
between structures are represented?
What is the actual role of all these representations
(beyond just textbook figures) in development of
visual thinking?
14 July 2012
Acknowledgements
21
Biochemistry Education
Research Group @ NDSU:
Jessie Arneson (undergrad)
Jordyn Hull (undergrad)
Jan Ohm (high school student)
Alisa Fairweather
Nate Grosz
Shannon Anderson
Collaborators:
Dr. Jenni Momsen
Dr. Clara Kim
Amy Williams
Funding:
NSF-CHE #1062701
14 July 2012