Using Visualisations to Understand Ocean Circulation and Upwelling
“[Science] is not only about replicating reality but also about making it more understandable to people” (Evagorou et al, 2015).
Visualisations are immensely useful tools in understanding ocean circulation, upwelling, and other scientific concepts, and in “developing, clarifying, and transmitting scientific knowledge,” because they “can be used either as primary data... in concept development... to uncover relationships and to make the abstract more concrete” (Evagorou et al, 2015).
Colour coding may improve information retention. When studying the effectiveness of colour coding in video lectures, researchers found that “colour-coded design was more beneficial than the grayscale design, as indicated by smaller pupil diameter, shorter fixation duration, higher EEG theta and alpha band power, lower EEG cognitive load, and better learning performance” (Liu et al, 2021).
Where visualisations are primary data, they are also more persuasive because they constitute visual evidence of the phenomena in question.
Visualisations incorporating video and/or audio may be more engaging and experiential, thereby prolonging the viewer’s attention span and enhancing absorption and understanding.
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References:
Evagorou, M., Erduran, S., and Mäntylä, T. (2015). ‘The role of visual representations in scientific practices: from conceptual understanding and knowledge generation to ‘seeing’ how science works.’ International Journal of STEM Education volume 2, Article number: 11 (2015) https://stemeducationjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40594-015-0024-x
Liu, Y., Ma, W., Guo, X., Lin, X., Wu, C., and Zhu, T. (2021). 'Impacts of Color Coding on Programming Learning in Multimedia Learning: Moving Toward a Multimodal Methodology'. Psychol., 03 December 2021. Sec. Educational Psychology. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.773328/full