Overview of the international and interdisciplinary Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science and Education and info on key cognitive science and learning sciences researchers. History of the conference, NSF workshop, and research on learning with visualizations.

1. International Perspectives:
Visualization in Science and Education
American Chemical Society
CINF Division, March 2010
Liz Dorland
Washington University
dorland@wustl.edu
slideshare.net/ldorland

2. What should we teach?
How should we teach it?
How do we decide?
What do students see?
• Introduction - Learning from images
• A Little History
• NSF Workshop on Visualization (2001)
• Gordon Research Conference on
Visualization in Science and Education
• Interdisciplinary Participants& Research

3. Audience? Purpose? Developer?
Public
Informal Science
Understanding
Education Education
of Science
Scientific
Visualization
Scientific
Public Research Public
Understanding Understanding
of Science of Science

4. Visual Complexity
http://www.visualcomplexity.com/

5. What happened to the French Army?
www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/minard

6. Statistical Graph - Charles Minard (1861)
Adapted by Aaron Walburg and Stephen Hartzog (1996)
(gif animation – better or worse than static?)
http://www.stat.ucla.edu/history/march.htm

7. The Visual Elements Periodic Table
http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/visualelements

8. Ionization Energy Landscape Video
http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/visualelements/pages/ionisation.html

9. Periodic Landscapes

10. http://www.rsc.org/chemsoc/visualelements/pages/ionisation.html

11. Decoding…
What are those balls?
DNA-binding domain of the GAL4 transcriptional regulatory
protein. Lysine 18 sits in the major groove of DNA,
recognizing the DNA sequence CGG. Polyview-3D
Adrenergic G-protein coupled receptor
functionally solubilized by self-assembly
into a 10 nm diameter Nanodisc. Normal transcription requires both the
Steve Sligar - U of Illinois DNA-binding domain (BD) and the activation
domain (AD) of a transcriptional activator (TA).
Science Creative Quarterlywww.scq.ubc.ca

12. Multiple Representations
What do students see? > 8 million!
Google Images: “DNA”

13. Bruce Alberts
Former President:
National Academies of Science
Editor: Science Magazine
“The Cell as a Collection of Protein Machines:
Preparing the Next Generation of Molecular
Biologists.” Bruce Alberts - Cell 92: 291-4. (1998)
~ 300 citations

14. Web of Science
http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/project.cfm?id=434

15. “Virtual Museum of Minerals and Molecules”
Chime (mid 90s) ->Jmol (since ~2003)
http://virtual-museum.soils.wisc.edu/displays.html

16. MDL Cool Chime Sites by Liz D. 1997

17. NSF Workshop 2001: new interdisciplinary focus
http://www.rsc.org/images/p2_Jones_tcm18-33083.pdf

18. Gordon Research Conference
Visualization in
Science and Education
Interdisciplinary Research
Speakers & Participants

19. Agendas: http://www.grc.org/conferences.aspx?id=0000385

20. The Conference brings together:
• physical and biological scientists
• graphics specialists
• cognitive scientists
In a forum for the critical examination of:
• the uses of visual images in the physical and
biological sciences and in mathematics
• the tools used to create these images, and of
• their effectiveness in conveying scientific information
to specialist and novice audiences

21. Visualization in Science & Education
Cognitive scientists’understanding of human
perception and cognition guides the research and
educational application of visualizations.
Recent Conferences have been preceded by workshop
tutorials on evaluating and creating better
visualizations.
Small, peer-reviewed mini-grants have been awarded
post-Conference tofoster the multidisciplinary
research needed to create effective visualization.

22. Visualization in Science & Education
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Engineering
• Psychology
• Computer Science/Graphics
• Earth Sciences
• Mathematics
• Cognitive Science & the Learning Sciences

23. Peter Atkins (Oxford)
Loretta Jones (U Northern Colorado)
http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/RP/issues/2005_3/

24. 2007 GRC Speaker:
Donna Cox, NCSA &UIUC
http://access.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Stories/supertwister/
Museum of Science &Industry
Visualization by Donna Cox, Robert Patterson,
Stuart Levy, Matt Hall, Alex Betts, NCSA

25. Pat Hanrahan (Stanford)
Computer Graphics Research
“This is the best conference I attend”
– Developer of RenderMan software
– Winner of two Academy Award
– http://multi.stanford.edu/interaction/0207/hci.html

26. Barbara Tversky, Psychology
Stanford & Columbia U.
“Animation, Does it Facilitate Learning?”
http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~bt/
Diagramshttp://www-psych.stanford.edu/~bt/diagrams/papers/
Space http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~bt/space/papers/
Events http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~bt/events/papers/
• Animations have not been proven more effective than
equivalent static graphics.
• Animations that are invented and used in exploring
phenomena and data, often by experts in pursuit of
understanding, may be effective.
• Creating animations may confer benefits to the creators.
• Expertise in the specific content and animation may make
some animations effective.

27. Mary Hegarty, Psychology
UC Santa Barbara
http://www.psych.ucsb.edu/~hegarty/visual_displays.php
“We are interested in how people make sense of these
complex visual-spatial displays and how they use them in
learning, reasoning and problem solving.”
“Eye tracking provides an online measure of the information
that a viewer is accessing while reasoning and solving
problems with complex visual displays.”

28. Shaaron Ainsworth, Psychology
University of Nottingham
Learning with Visual & Multiple Representations
and Interactive Technologies
http://www.psychology.nottingham.ac.uk/staff/Shaaron.Ainsworth/research.html
• examine how different combinations
of representations influence
learning
• identify a set of design principles for
successful multi-representational
software
• develop a model of how people
learn with multiple representations

29. Ainsworth

30. Ed Psych & Visualization
• Miller - Magic #7 (1956)
• Pavio - Dual Coding (1980s)
• Sweller et. al. (1980s)
- Cognitive Load Theory
• Mayer & Moreno (1990s)
- Multimedia Principles

31. Alex Johnstone (1983):
Journal of Chemical Education
How many chunks?
• Miller number 7
• Working memory Organic Chem Topics
After repeated attempts
• Chunking
• Perception filter
• Information
Processing Model

32. Levels of Representation
Symbolic Macroscopic
H2O
Sub-
Microscopic

33. Google:
“Dissolving
NaCl”
NCSSM: Flash Animation from North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics

34. What do students see?
Insoluble Liquids

35. Google Images: “NaCl dissolving”

36. What do students see?
Molecules?
Ions?
Colored spheres?
How do we know?

37. “Representational
Competence?”
Roy Tasker
Tom Greenbowe

38. “On the Surface of Things”
Felice Frankel & George Whitesides
ACS Priestly Medalist
C&E News, March 2007

39. “She Calls It ‘Phenomena.’
Everyone Else Calls It Art.”
Felice Frankel, NYT June 2007

40. Donald Sadoway, MIT (with Felice Frankel)
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Link to student animation: http://web.mit.edu/i-m/picturing/pict_stu04.html

41. MIT-NSF: “Picturing to Learn”
http://web.mit.edu/i-m/picturing/pict_students.html
“We compared scores on the final exams 2004 vs 2005 and saw
evidence in support of deeper understanding of concepts
addressed in the picturing homework assignments.”

42. Collaborative Environments
chemsense.org/about/papers.html

43. Marcia Linn, UC Berkeley
Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE)Making
complex science visible:
http://tels.berkeley.edu/~mclinn/

44. CyberlearningReport:
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf08204

45. WISE Chemical Reactions:
Visualize &Reflect
Intro: http://wise.berkeley.edu/pages/intro/wiseFlashIntro.php
Jennifer Chiu
How did making water molecules in
Molecular Workbench relate to the
balanced equation of
2H2+ O2 -> 2H2O?
“They are related because in order to have no atoms
left over in the workbench, we had to get a certain
amount of oxygen atoms and hydrogen atoms. This
number is the same as the ratios in the balanced
equation (2 H2, 1 O2, and you end up with 2H2O

46. WISE Student Results
Increased connections among symbolic and molecular
representations, limiting reactants, and conservation of mass.
Pretest Post test
Q. If only the molecules in the
closed container below react KR (1)
according to the equation:
2S + 3O2 ->2SO3
RB (1)
BW (2)
Draw the container after the reaction.

47. Participate in TELS & WISE
TELS Professional development model enables teachers to
begin using modules and design their own additional supports.
(see http://TELSCenter.org)
TELS Technology from WISE and Concord Consortium.
(http://telscenter.org/technology)
TELS Design Principles database is on-line and available for use
in courses, customization activities, and design.
(see http://www.design-principles.org)
TELS Assessments are available and have accepted
psychometric properties.

48. http://www.slideshare.net/ldorland

49. GRC Viz
Mt. Holyoke
2001
Oxford
2003, 2005, 2009
Rhode Island
2007 + 2011
http://www.grc.org

50. Learning & Instruction
Cognition & Instruction
Journal of Research in Science
Teaching
International Journal of Science
Education
Applied Cognitive Psychology
Journal of the Learning
Sciences
Journals with Research on Visualization
Cognitive Science
Educational Technology Research &
Development
Journal of Science, Ed &
Technology
British Journal of Educational Technology
Technology, Pedagogy and
Liz Dorland Education
Washington University in St. Louis
Canadian J of Learning Technology
dorland@wustl.edu Computers & Human Behavior
Learning, Media & Technology

51. Links to Visualization Refs & Resources
Liz Dorland on Slideshare
http://www.slideshare.net/ldorland/
GRC Visualization Past Agendas
http://www.grc.org/conferences.aspx?id=0000385
Mary Hegarty research
http://www.psych.ucsb.edu/~hegarty/visual_displays.php
Marcia Linn and Visualization on Google Scholar
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&safe=active&domains=vis.berkeley.edu&q=
Marcia%20Linn%20visualization&sitesearch=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=ws
Toward a Learning Technologies knowledge network (ETR&D article)
http://www.springerlink.com/content/y781h1p7561p3h71/?p=4fd759ee01aa46d7a98
99a56783a9b45&pi=2
Timeline of the History of Dataviz Milestones
http://datavis.ca/milestones/