(Opening Slide)
DRAWING TO LEARN
Exercise 1
Close your eyes and do the following with
your neighbor:
1. Pick something in your teaching area
that is either interesting or challenging
to teach.
2. In turns, with your eyes still closed,
start describing it to your neighbor
(whose eyes should be open).
Reflect on what happens….
Drawing to Learn
The Role that
Visualization and Drawing
Can Play in Learning
Paul Heideman
Professor of Biology
College of William & Mary
The “notes” part of this presentation has some explanatory text.
Three goals:
(1) Convince you to get your
students to draw (if you don’t
already; if you do, ways to help
convince OTHERS to accept it)
(2) Ways to do it
(3) Traps, Pitfalls & ways out
Are there reasons to draw?
Are there reasons to draw?
For me, yes -- students need better skill at:
(1) converting concepts and procedures
to internalizable chunks.
(2) organizing and integrating concepts
for problem solving.
(3) developing fluent recall with understanding
(e.g., of essential concepts and procedural rules).
Are there reasons to draw?
For me, yes -- students need better skill at:
(1) converting concepts and procedures
to internalizable chunks.
(2) organizing and integrating concepts
for problem solving.
(3) developing fluent recall with understanding
(e.g., of essential concepts and procedural rules).
&
(4) To help teachers (me--maybe you) assess
understanding.
Are there reasons to draw?
For me, yes -- students need better skill at:
(1) converting concepts and procedures
to internalizable chunks.
(2) organizing and integrating concepts
for problem solving.
(3) developing fluent recall with understanding
(e.g., of essential concepts and procedural rules).
&
(4) To help teachers (me--maybe you) assess
understanding.
I’ve trained students in many active study methods…
but students rarely adopt them.
More than anything else, students find drawing useful
& they keep on drawing.
from an unsolicited email in 2003
“… The most amazing part of all this for me was when I
was looking over MCAT materials over the summer and
realized the only things I truly remembered in great detail
were the ones I outlined [drew] for Animal Phys. I could
still draw my pictures, and I was amazed.”
& a recent spontaneous email from a former student
“… I'll admit that I hated the minute sketches at first, but the
sketches I drew as an undergrad, I actually remember and I
am using right now to study for my graduate cell biology
class. The next time your zoology sophomores complain
about minute sketches, tell them a PhD student at Vandy
[Vanderbilt University] still uses them because they are that
useful!”
Some Reasons to Draw
(1) Students think about meaning to sketch a concept
(2) & simplify to essentials for a sketch in 30 seconds
(3) Reasoning from representations helps solve problems
(4) Communicates to us (teachers) understanding (or not)
(5) Drawing uses an independent learning pathway
(neostriatal cortex & ‘skill’ memory--different from visual and auditory memory)
(6) & more (see the references)
- The best, most current, short review I know:
“Drawing to Learn in Science” Shaaron Ainsworth, V. Prain, R. Tytler 2011. Science 333:1096-1097
ALSO MUST SEE: ”Drawing Attention to Diagram Use” E. Manalo & Y. Uesaka. 2011. Science 334:761
Exercise 2
Words represent things, but are not things.
Is it true that:
Words can provide a memorized
solution to a problem, but
words alone cannot give new
solutions?
Think, Pair, Share with your neighbor: agree or disagree
Exercise 3
Can you put a square peg in a round hole?
Provide a proof:
(a) in words
(b) in a sketch
Provisionally:
Drawing is often useful
(though my students who keep drawing say:
“…except in English classes…”)
Part 2: Getting students to Draw
(1) Model
(+ instructions & guidelines)
(2) Encourage
(class, homework, exams)
(3) Explain
(persuasively)
(4) Feedback
(formative assessment & coaching)
Simple rules
(1) Fast
(30 seconds to redraw sketch)
(2) Correct
(Does it capture the idea?)
(3) Words
(ONLY to the side; never on the
sketch; & only a list of terms)
(4) Explanations
(The drawing should BE the
explanation)
(This is my starting grading rubric)
Simple rules
(1) Fast
(30 seconds to redraw sketch)
(2) Correct
(Does it capture the idea?)
(3) Words
(ONLY to the side; never on the
sketch; & only a list of terms)
(4) Explanations
(The drawing should BE the
explanation)
I offer three sets of directions for students:
(a) this one.
(b) 1-page expanded. (email me at pdheid@wm.edu)
(c) Ten-page detailed step-by-step with examples. (email me…)
Exercise 4
In a sketch, explain the meaning of
(your choice—these or others) the terms:
Geoscience : “ revolve” and “rotate” in planetary motion
Chemistry : “ionic bond” and “covalent bond”
Physics :
“Boltzmann constant” and “entropy”
Mathematics : “first and second order equation”
Biology (Molecular) : “DNA” and “allele”
Biology (Ecology) :
“territory defense costs”
With a word definition of “revolve” and “rotate” in
planetary motion,
know?
how do you know what students
With a word definition of “revolve” and “rotate” in
planetary motion,
how do you know what students
know?
From Ainsworth et al 2011 Science 333:1096-1097 Supplemental materials
Exercise 5:
Simplify the sketch on the left to essentials
- fewest possible lines, capturing EVERYTHING essential
- Do two versions; one with word labels on your sketch, and
the other with word labels in a list off to the left side.
From Ainsworth et al 2011 Science 333:1096-1097 Supplemental materials
Review your sketch from exercise 4.
(1) Fast
(30 seconds to redraw sketch)
(2) Correct
(Does it capture the idea?)
(3) Words
(ONLY to the side; never on the
sketch; & only a list of terms)
(4) Explanations
(The drawing should BE the
explanation)
(This is my starting grading rubric)
Exercise 6
My drawing for the phrase “territory defense costs”
Resource cost (fewer eggs)
Risk cost
(predator)
Opportunity cost (lost time)
Exercise 6
Predict the consequences for territory defense if a
plague kills most predators.
Resource cost (fewer eggs)
Risk cost
(predator)
Opportunity cost (lost time)
Exercise 6
Predict the consequences for territory defense if a
plague kills most predators.
Resource cost (fewer eggs)
Risk cost
(predator)
Opportunity cost (lost time)
X
Exercise 6
Predict the consequences for territory defense if a
plague kills most predators.
Resource cost (fewer eggs)
2.
Risk cost
1.
(predator)
Opportunity cost (lost time)
X
Exercise 6
Predict the consequences for territory defense if a
plague kills most predators.
Resource cost (fewer eggs)
2.
Risk cost
1.
(predator)
Opportunity cost (lost time)
3.
Total cost
X
Exercise 6
Predict the consequences for territory defense if a
plague kills most predators.
Resource cost (fewer eggs)
2.
Risk cost
1.
(predator)
X
4.
Opportunity cost (lost time)
3.
Total cost
Expanded territory for same cost
Exercise 6b
What if food becomes more abundant?
Resource cost (fewer eggs)
Risk cost
(predator)
Opportunity cost (lost time)
Getting students to Draw, revisited
Redrawing (or visualizing) good minute sketches
is much faster than rereading (time your students)
and much easier to remember.
Getting students to Draw
Redrawing (or visualizing) good minute sketches
is much faster than rereading
and much easier to remember.
Need a definition? Describe your sketch.
Getting students to Draw
Redrawing (or visualizing) good minute sketches
is much faster than rereading
and much easier to remember.
Need a definition? Describe your sketch.
Is a picture worth a thousand words?
(Is a sketch as good as the text?)
Yes, if all essentials can be recalled from the sketch.
(If not, add a 2nd sketch)
Exercise 7
Make a minute sketch for:
(a) Heat
(b) If you have time…
evaporation in relation to heat
(c) You probably will not have time to sketch the water
cycle…
Part 3: Traps and Pitfalls (students)
(1) Motivation
(2) Prior conclusions
(3) Drawing Skill
(4) Rotework
(5) Impatience
(6) Feedback
Part 3: Traps and Pitfalls (students)
(1) Motivation
(hard!)
(2) Prior conclusions
(learning styles)
(3) Drawing Skill
(nervous sketchers)
(4) Rotework
(copying without thought)
(5) Impatience
(months, not weeks)
(6) Feedback
(in large classes--hard)
Part 3: Traps and Pitfalls (students)
(1) Motivation
(Persuasiveness & Desperation)
(2) Prior conclusions
(improve what’s worst)
(3) Drawing Skill
(practice; even stick figures work)
(4) Rotework
(Tell them: think, think, think)
(5) Impatience
(explain: it’s gonna take months)
(6) Feedback
(clear instructions
or few students)
Part 3: Traps and Pitfalls (instructors)
(1) Drawing Skill
(2) Teaching it
(3) Excess pressure to sketch
(4) Impatience (yours)
(5) Student misapplication
(6) Fear: I’m wasting time
Part 3: Traps and Pitfalls (instructors)
(1) Drawing Skill
(Practice)
(2) Teaching it
(Start small: one exercise)
(3) Excess pressure
(Don’t -- some students loathe me)
(4) Impatience (yours)
(This is as hard to learn as anything
else you teach)
(5) Student misapplication* (Repeat, repeat, repeat)
* SEE: ”Drawing Attention to Diagram Use” E. Manalo & Y. Uesaka. 2011. Science 334:761
(6) Fear: I’m wasting time (Start small on HARD topics)
Part 3: Traps and Pitfalls (instructors)
(7) Providing Drawings
(Students need to create their own)
Students all tell me: my own drawings are
MUCH better than yours for MY learning.
Exercise 8 (start now, then a take-home exercise & send it to me)
Pick one concept for students to convert to a sketch
& use this in an in-class exercise.
(1) One exercise, for a particularly difficult & essential
concept
- Provide a sketch
- Students turn in an improved version, multiple copies
- On an exam, require using the sketch to solve a problem
- On the same exam, a question of similar difficulty but no
sketch
Exercise 8 (start now, then a take-home exercise & send it to me)
Pick one concept for students to convert to a sketch
& use this in an in-class exercise.
(2) For a second particularly difficult or complex & essential
concept
-
Have students develop own sketch
Give feedback using rubric
Reproduce sketch from memory in class on three different
days;
- Explain to classmate (different classmate each day)
Students use their sketch to solve a problem on an exam
Want more?
Email me comments/questions/examples
Next steps?
pdheid@wm.edu
THINGS TO DO:
There is lots more:
I can not distill all of this into one workshop!
Good luck.
Reasons to draw -- expanded, but still not exhaustive
1. Students have to think about what the words mean to
convert text to their own drawing; requires understanding
2. Simplification to minimal content (easier to remember)
3. Reasoning using representation
4. Communication to instructor of what is/is not understood
5. Reviewing is faster using sketches next to lists of terms
than re-reading/reviewing words
6. Memory formation by repeated drawing from memory
while thinking
- Retrieval practice (see Science article from early 2011)
7. Independent but interacting memory pathway:
- Neostriatal cortex skill memory “Implicit
learning” pathway versus hippocampusdependent “Explicit learning” pathway
8. Problem solving
Drawing to Learn: The Role that Visualization and
Drawing Can Play in Learning
Paul D. Heideman, Department of Biology, College of William and Mary,
Williamsburg, VA 23187.
Visualization and drawing of structures, events or concepts are useful in (a) learning, (b) fast,
efficient development of memory, and (c) problem-solving in science and mathematics. In addition,
simple sketches made by students can be a fast, effective way to diagnose individual student
weaknesses and misunderstandings. Sketches can be especially helpful when students feel it is
enough to memorize terms and definitions for a test, but they do not internalize the concepts and
cannot use their content to solve new problems. This presentation of materials from a Noyce addon class (How Students Learn) includes a brief review of the literature on “Drawing to Learn” with
examples on using simple student sketches effectively. The materials will include exercises in
sketching, instructions for students, grading rubrics, and suggested uses for teaching in STEM
disciplines. Unhappily, things can go wrong. In 15 years of experience using student sketches in
teaching in most of his classes, the presenter has learned many ways to go wrong as well as ways
to make sketching work. The presentation will include strategies to avoid or correct problems and
apply these methods effectively.