The influences of the forms of verbal external representations and student's verbal learning style in learning with multiple representations using drawing

Abstract

This study investigated the influences of the forms of verbal external representations and students' verbal learning style in learning chemical concepts with drawing as a method to assist students in connecting and integrating multiple external representations. Seventh graders (N=133) at a coed middle school were assigned to formal drawing (FD) and personalized drawing (PD) groups. Students in the PD group were provided words at personalized style as verbal external representations for drawing, while those in the FD group were provided words at formal style. All students were taught about Boyle's Law and Charles's Law for two class hours. Results revealed that the scores of a conception test for the PD group were significantly higher than those for the FD group. In a situational interest test, students with strong verbal learning style preference scored significantly higher than students with weak verbal learning style preference in the two groups. Most PD group students were found to prefer to read verbal external representations at personalized style for drawing rather than at formal style, and perceived their activities positively upon cognitive, affective and motivational aspects. Students with strong verbal learning style preference had more positive perceptions about their activities than students with weak verbal learning style especially upon affective and motivational aspects.