Then: I’ll describe the reseach behind the practice — which I discovered just\u00a0recently<\/em>.<\/p>\n Finally: I’ll zoom back to offer a larger perspective.<\/p>\n Long-time readers know that I’m a fan of “dual coding<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n As Oliver Caviglioli has explained in his marvelous book<\/a>, students learn more easily if our explanations include both visual and verbal representation.<\/p>\n That is: teachers should combine a description in words with a “stable visual representation” — a diagram or outline or graph. (Cavilgioli offers dozens — probably hundreds — of examples.)<\/p>\n This technique, although mightily helpful, requires lots of thought to pull off effectively.\u00a0One problem in particular has raised challenges in my own consulting work.<\/p>\n On the one hand, I want to clarify the various cognitive science concepts I’m describing — say, tripartite attention, or schema theory, or even dual coding itself — by creating “stable visual representations” of them.<\/p>\n On the other hand, those concepts include LOTS of important pieces. A rich understanding of them requires grokking those pieces and the relationships among them<\/i>.<\/p>\n For this reason, my “stable visual representation”\u00a0— which exists to reduce working memory load — might in fact overwhelm\u00a0working memory. SO MANY pieces. SO MANY important relationships.<\/p>\n What’s a consultant to do?<\/p>\n Over the years, I’ve developed a technique that a) makes sense to me, and b) just seems to work.<\/p>\n I start by creating the final version of the “stable visual representation” I want teachers to understand.<\/p>\n For instance, I regularly show Dr. Efrat Furst’s “pyramid model” to explain schema theory:<\/p>\n To explore this model in depth, you can check out Dr. Furst’s EXCELLENT website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n As you can see, this model includes an ENORMOUS number of concepts (and relationships among them).<\/p>\n For that reason, I don’t start with the model itself; instead,\u00a0I break it down into incremental pieces and add to them one at a time<\/em>. (This is the teaching technique I promised at the top.)<\/p>\n So, my first slide simply has the four large grey rectangles: the barest visual outline of the diagram.<\/p>\n Only then — one at a time — do I add in “novice” and then “advanced” and then “expert.” (I don’t even mention “teacher” at this point — because the core\u00a0distinction between “expert” and “teacher” won’t make any sense until the first three stages do.)<\/p>\n With the rectangles and the labels in place, then I’ll start talking about the three “novice”\u00a0triangles on the left — in fact, only the two dark gray ones on the lower row. Teachers have to understand the concepts they represent before adding the third top triangle will be helpful.<\/p>\n And so forth.<\/p>\n In other words: presenting this diagram takes probably 10 PowerPoint slides and several dozen (more than 100?) animations.<\/p>\n In this way — I hope — I can successfully dual code the concept of schema theory.<\/p>\n I’m saying the words, and gradually …\u00a0very\u00a0<\/em>gradually … unveiling piece by piece by piece the stable visual representation.<\/p>\n Of course, I’m not the only person to work this way. For instance: in Adam Boxer’s top-notch book Teaching Secondary Science<\/a>, Boxer describes his method for explaning the anatomy and function of the heart with just such a step-by-step unveiling. If you haven’t read this book yet, you REALLY should.<\/p>\n Usually in this field I find research that gives me new teaching ideas.<\/p>\n Occasionally I find reseach that\u00a0supports teaching practices I’m already doing<\/em>.<\/p>\n In this case: I’ve long hoped that reseach supports my step-by-step dual coding practice. But, to be honest, I never knew of any such research.<\/p>\n Recently, a friend mentioned something called the “dynamic drawing principle” — and sure enough, I struck research gold (or something close to it).<\/p>\nThe Potential Paradox of Dual Coding<\/h2>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/AdobeStock_86184088-300x212.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIt Just Might Work…<\/h2>\n
![\"Furst](\"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Furst-Pyramid-Model-1024x480.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nBut Wait, We’ve Got Research…<\/h2>\n