The role of pictures in learning biology: Part 2, picture—text processing

Abstract

Part 1 of this review fJBE, 24(3), 161-172) examined the ways in which representational pictures associated with science texts might best be manipulated in order to maximize their potential as learning aids. In the second part of the review the complex interactions between picture, text, and learner are examined, on the basis of a 3-D model which describes the context of the learning task. There is evidence to show that, in spite of the different styles of writing used in narrative and expository text, the influence of pictures on learning from text is similar in both cases. This is useful information since much more research is available on narrative than on expository (science-type) texts. One of the most important interactions highlighted in recent research is that the ability of the learner correlates strongly with the picture superiority effect (PSE). There is evidence that less able children actually learn significantly less from science texts containing pictures than from the same text that is not illustrated. The reverse is true for more able children, that is, possible PSE can be demonstrated. It has also been shown that less able children use quite different strategies in reading from illustrated texts than their more able peers, and it is suggested that it is these strategies which contribute to poorer learning on their part. For example, less able children spend significantly longer looking at the pictures and look at them significantly more frequently than their more able peers. There is evidence that training children how to use pictures in association with text affects the strategies they use in reading and also improves learning. The author believes that there is now sufficient research evidence to guide the production of an appropriate ‘picture pedagogy’, and that children need to be taught how to read pictures.