Science Learning: Visualization and Representation

Spatial information, such as shape, size, structure, and motion, is particularly important in the natural sciences, and certain branches of science are devoted to studying spatial properties. For example, anatomy is the study of the structure of living things, and stereochemistry is the study of the structure of compounds. Often relevant structures are not directly observable because they occur at a scale of space that is beyond perception (e.g., solar system) or not visible (e.g., molecules). In such cases one has to rely on mental visualization and external representations. Although spatial cognition and visualization are an integral part of human cognition, large individual differences are found in the spatial abilities. Representations, with their conventions and abstractions pose a problem for students of science. I will discuss how visuospatial thinking plays a critical role in learning science and some of the ways in which visuospatial thinking and representational competence can be improved.

 

About Dr. Shamin Padalkar:

Dr. Shamin Padalkar received a Master's degree in Physics from the University of Pune and a Ph.D. in Science Education from Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (TIFR). Her thesis focused on visualization and spatial cognition in high-school astronomy. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara she worked in a NSF funded project to improve undergraduate students representational competence in organic chemistry. Later she worked as a senior project officer at the Quality Education Support Trust (QUEST), an NGO working in the tribal parts of Maharashtra. She was responsible for developing online material in Marathi for teachers in remote areas. She has been a visiting faculty at the Department of Education and Extension, University of Pune and served as one of the authors of Certificate Programme for Teaching of Elementary School Science (CTES), an online course for teachers by the National Council Of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). She a member of the textbook committee of the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research.