How do successful and unsuccessful learners use texts and graphics

Abstract The objective of the following study was to analyze what differences exist between successful and unsuccessful learners with regard to their use of texts and graphics. First, a theoretical framework is presented in which texts and graphics are viewed as complementary sources of information with qualitatively different functions for knowledge acquisition. Comprehension of graphics is considered as a process of structure mapping between a visuo-spatial configuration and a corresponding mental model whereby this mapping can be directed by the respective text. Within the background of this theoretical framework, an empirical study is presented in which university students received as learning material a time-zone map of the earth as well as a hypertext dealing with the topic “time and date.” The subjects had to answer with these two information sources a series of questions about the topics. In order to analyze the subjects' cognitive processes, the Thinking Aloud Method was used. By means of a post-test a distinction was made between a group of successful learners and a group of unsuccessful learners. The comparison between the two groups indicated that the successful learners used the map more intensively and in a different way than the unsuccessful learners. The successful learners did not retrieve more text information, but concentrated more on information which was relevant for the construction of a mental model, and they adapted more readily to the demands of mental-model construction in the course of information retrieval than the unsuccessful learners. Some instructional consequences concerning direct and indirect guidance of knowledge acquisition by means of texts and graphics are pointed out.

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