The Impact of Active Visualisation of High School Students on the Ability to Memorise Verbal Definitions

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay

Research examines how active visualisation affects high school students’ ability to memorise a difficult written definition. The theoretical section clarifies visualisation, defines active visualisation, and distinguishes appearance-based versus form-based analogies, emphasizing appearance-based schema visualisations shaped by culturally trained imagery. The empirical section reports an experiment measuring memorisation outcomes after student-generated visualisations. Two hypotheses are tested regarding predominance of appearance-based schemas and statistically significant benefits for text memorisation, with both supported in the study’s scope.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time1 h 0 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Teaching about, within and with visuality

Theoretical Background

Concept of visualisation and active visualisation

Types of visualisation: appearance-based and form-based analogies

Empirical Study

Experiment design and memorisation task

Hypotheses and results

The Impact of Active Visualisation of High School Students on the Ability to Memorise Verbal Definitions Anamarija Šmajdek1 and Jurij Selan*2 • 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 tomemorise 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. Keywords: visualisation, visual recall, active visualisation, appearancebased visualisation, form-based visualisation, appearance-based schemata, memory 1 High School Josip Jurčič, Ivančna Gorica, Slovenia. 2 *Corresponding Author. Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; [jurij.selan@pef.uni-lj.si](jurij.selan@pef.uni-lj.si). Vpliv aktivne vizualizacije na sposobnost pomnjenjabesedne definicije pri dijakih Anamarija Šmajdek in Jurij Selan • 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 pojemaktivne 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 teoretičneugotovitve 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 spontanouporabljamo 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 sposobnostipri učenju. Obe hipotezi smo v raziskavi potrdili. Ker smo v preučevali le vpliv najbolj spontanih vizualizacij, to je podobotvornih šablon, seodpirajo nadaljnje možnosti raziskovanja vizualizacij, pri katerih b

FAQs

What is the focus of the study regarding high school students?

The study evaluates how active visualisation influences high school students’ ability to memorise a difficult written definition.

How does the research define active visualisation and related concepts?

It defines visualisation as a means of acquiring and conveying knowledge, and specifies active visualisation while distinguishing appearance-based and form-based analogies.

What were the main hypotheses and were they confirmed?

One hypothesis expected most student visualisations to be appearance-based schema visualisations, and the other expected active visualisation to significantly improve memorising text; both hypotheses were confirmed.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay