Open Learning Initiative

Davenport, J., McEldoon, K., Klahr, D. (2007). Depicting invisible processes:  The influence of molecular-level diagrams in chemistry instruction. 29th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

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Abstract

Most of what we know about the effects of diagrams in instruction comes from domains in which diagrams depict entities and procedures that are largely accessible to human’s unaided perceptual processes (e.g., mechanical systems such as bicycle pumps, drum brakes, pulleys, or the heart and lung system).

Instruction that includes diagrams in these domains leads to larger learning gains than instruction without diagrams (e.g., Ainsworth, 2006; Clark & Mayer, 2003). Further, diagrams during instruction may enhance the benefit of self-explanation (Ainsworth & Loizou, 2003). In this study we ask whether diagrams enhance learning in domains such as chemistry, where the diagrams depict entities and processes (i.e., atoms and molecules) that cannot be directly observed, and whose size and number areat a scale that is far beyond students' everyday experience. irrelevant information (e.g., Wilkin, 1997).