Characterizing Visual Literacy in Biochemistry: Interpreting the Symbolic Language Embedded Within Biochemistry Representations
Abstract
Representations play a key role in communicating concepts and phenomena in courses such as chemistry, biology, and biochemistry. While representations have the potential to help students develop conceptual understanding of a subject, integrating multiple ideas to interpret and use the representations can be challenging. For example, biochemistry students are faced with the unique challenge of having to combine their knowledge of both chemistry and biology to make sense of complex biological structures and processes. Using the Visual Literacy Framework proposed by Schönborn and Anderson, the objective of our study is to investigate the symbolism embedded within biochemistry representations and how students make sense of these symbols. As part of a larger study, we adapted and expanded a previously published coding scheme to interpret the iconic symbols immersed in biochemistry representations from popular biochemistry textbooks. Our analysis includes the quantification of iconic symbols, styles, and their conceptual meaning and student’s interpretation of arrows. During the presentation, preliminary results from this project will be presented.
Faculty Sponsors
Dr. Zahilyn Roche Allred, Dr. Arthur Sikora
Project Type
Event
Location
Alvin Sherman Library
Start Date
4-3-2024 12:30 PM
End Date
4-4-2024 1:30 PM
Characterizing Visual Literacy in Biochemistry: Interpreting the Symbolic Language Embedded Within Biochemistry Representations
Alvin Sherman Library
Representations play a key role in communicating concepts and phenomena in courses such as chemistry, biology, and biochemistry. While representations have the potential to help students develop conceptual understanding of a subject, integrating multiple ideas to interpret and use the representations can be challenging. For example, biochemistry students are faced with the unique challenge of having to combine their knowledge of both chemistry and biology to make sense of complex biological structures and processes. Using the Visual Literacy Framework proposed by Schönborn and Anderson, the objective of our study is to investigate the symbolism embedded within biochemistry representations and how students make sense of these symbols. As part of a larger study, we adapted and expanded a previously published coding scheme to interpret the iconic symbols immersed in biochemistry representations from popular biochemistry textbooks. Our analysis includes the quantification of iconic symbols, styles, and their conceptual meaning and student’s interpretation of arrows. During the presentation, preliminary results from this project will be presented.
