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.
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