Keynote Address: Tools for Thinking

Abstract

The content of thought can be regarded as internalized and intermixed perceptions of the world and the actions of thought as internalized and intermixed actions on the world. Reexternalizing the content of thought onto something percep- tible and reexternalizing the actions of thinking as actions of the body can facilitate thinking. New technologies can do both. They can allow creation and revision of external representations and they can allow interaction with the hands and the body. This analysis will be supported by several empirical studies. One will show that stu- dents learn more from creating visual explanations of STEM phenomena than from creating verbal ones. Another will show that conceptually congruent actions on an iPad promote arithmetic performance. A third will show that when reading spatial descriptions, students use their hands to create mental models. [abs] Gesturing doesn’t just help people talk, it helps them think, and it does so by structuring the thought into spatial-motor models. In one experiment, participants read descriptions of complex spatial environments, small towns, large gyms, muse- ums for later testing. As they read, they gestured [8]. Line-like gestures represented the network of paths and point-like gestures represented the locations of landmarks. When they gestured, as they read or when they answered questions, they remem- bered better. In another experiment, participants read and solved spatial problems; for problems with a large number of components, most gestured [20]. When their gestures represented the problem structure correctly, they were more likely to solve it correctly, and when their gestures represented the problem incorrectly, they more likely to solve it incorrectly. Other research has shown similar phenomena: using the body to represent thought helps thinking (e.g., [4, 12]). Although gestures can have significant consequence on thought, they are fleeting and disappear. A simple way to preserve them is to put them on a page, that is, to make a sketch or diagram. Conveniently, the hand does both, so the transformation from the air to the page is direct. Both gesture and sketch use actions or marks in space and place in space to express and commu- nicate thought. Putting thought on a page off-loads limited memory and information processing, increasing both. Putting thought on a page makes thought public for self and others. Putting thought on a page fosters contemplation, inference, revision, and discovery, both by individuals and by groups (e.g., [17]). Because the mapping of thought to space and elements or actions in it is more direct than the mapping of thought to words, there are many (but by no means all) situations, especially educational situations, in which sketches and diagrams (like gestures) surpass words in facilitating communication, inference, and creativity (e.g., [10, 11, 17]). Diagrams are helpful for teaching, and creating diagrams turns out to be helpful for learning, in spite of the fact that most examinations require students to produce words. In one set of experiments, junior high students first learned a STEM concept, either how a bicycle pump works or how chemical bonding happens [1]. Their mental rotation ability was also assessed; this is a common measure of spatial ability that correlates with performance in a wide range of tasks, including achievements in science and engineering courses. For the case of chemical bonding, their knowledge was tested immediately after learning. Then, in both cases, the students were randomly divided into two groups: students in one group crafted a standard verbal explanation of the bicycle pump or chemical bonding; students the other group crafted a visual explanation. Afterwards, they were tested on their knowledge of the structure and function of the bicycle pump or chemical bonding. In the case of the bicycle pump, low spatial students performed more poorly than high spatial students after producing a verbal explanation; this finding is common. However, producing a visual explanation brought low spatial students up to the level of high spatial students. Producing a visual explanation had no effect on the performance of high spatial students, perhaps because the task was too easy. The findings for the case of chemical bonding, a harder set of concepts, were more dramatic. Recall that their knowledge was tested soon after learning, then they produced verbal or visual explanations, and their knowledge was retested. The first surprising finding was that students improved on the second test as a consequence of producing explanations, with no additional teaching or study. The second surprising finding was that those who produced visual explanations improved far more than those who produced verbal explanations. Both high and low spatials gained from creating visual explanations, and high spatials performed better than low spatials after creating either type of explanation. Why is producing visual explanations so effective? As noted earlier, the mapping from elements and relations in the world to elements and relations on the page is more direct than the mapping to words. More than that, visual explanations provide a test for completeness—are all the necessary parts there? They also provide a test for coherence—do the parts interrelate properly? In the cases of learning and teaching, and in everyday cases like instructions to put something together or to get from A to B, clear direct diagrams that show structure and action work best (e.g., [22]). However, there are other cases in which ambiguity is most productive. Designers and artists make and revise sketches as in integral part of developing their ideas (e.g., [3, 5, 15, 19, 21]). The very ambiguity of their sketches allows them to see new configurations and relations, that is, to make new discoveries in their own sketches. Experienced designers are better at making new discoveries, especially more abstract ones, than inexperienced designers. Certain cognitive skills promote new discoveries, notably, a conceptual skill, finding remote associations, and a perceptual skill, finding small figures embedded in larger complex ones [21].