The concept of modernization of Russian education indicates that the new quality of education is the orientation of education not only on the assimilation by the student of a certain amount of knowledge, but also on the development of his personality, his cognitive and creative abilities.
The main factors in the development of a student’s personality and the formation of his/her competences are active subject-practical activities and communication. Therefore, during the study of academic disciplines the emphasis is shifted to the process of cognition itself, its organization and management, contributing to the implementation of the activity-based approach to learning. The more effective techniques and ways of thinking a child has, the faster and with less effort he will be able to solve any problems. With the correct formulation of learning work, a child’s abilities turn into abilities, become realities, are realized, turn into reality.
According to the requirements of the FSES, the priority goals and tasks of the lesson are the development of students’ abilities for productive independent creative activity in the modern information saturated environment. During the design of the lesson the teacher should focus on the implementation of the tasks aimed at the formation of the corresponding competences (universal learning actions). Particular attention is paid to meta-disciplinary competencies which allow using educational technologies both in other subjects and in everyday life.
Today, information management skills of both teacher and students come to the forefront. These skills are manifested in the activities of the teacher in the creation and use of information and communication technology (ICT) tools, and on the part of students – in the use of tools created by the teacher and the creation of their own. As a consequence, the teacher faces the task: to change the technologies of “presentation” of educational material, so that modern students feel comfortable, without violating the leading didactic principles of the educational process. One of the methods allowing to work with the increasing flow of educational and scientific information, as well as to implement the methods of joint activities of students is the method of visualization of information and/or knowledge.
Research by psychologists confirms that “perception is not the result of a simple streaming of images from receptors to the brain. When perceiving some picture, a person groups some parts of it with other parts, so that the whole picture is perceived as something in a certain way organized.”
Psychologists believe that 80% of today’s students are visual learners, and only 20% are auditory or kinesthetic. Psychological and pedagogical studies show that visualization promotes a more successful perception and memorization of educational material, allows you to penetrate deeper into the essence of the cognitive phenomena. This is due to the work of both hemispheres, rather than one left, the logical one, which usually works when mastering the exact sciences. The right hemisphere, which is responsible for figurative and emotional perception of the information presented, begins to work actively precisely during its visualization.
The concept of “visualization” is much wider than that of “visualization” and includes a variety of ways of creating an image of a perceived object or phenomenon by the senses. Its result is not a mechanical copying of reality by a child, but a construction of a block of information processed by the consciousness and given an individual coloring.
In school education have always used and apply a variety of forms of visualization. Their role in the learning process is exceptional. Especially when the use of visual media is not reduced to simple illustrations in order to make a course more accessible and easy to learn, and becomes an organic part of the cognitive activity of students, a means of formation and development of not only visual-image, but also abstract-logical thinking.
Information cannot be directly transmitted to the observer if it is not presented in a structurally clear, observable form. Each didactic unit must be recorded in the form of signs, diagrams, or drawings. These graphic images are used to assimilate and process information. Subsequently, any iconic information can be decomposed into separate relatively independent entities, as well as folded into larger associations.
Visualization in a broad sense is the process of presenting data in the form of an image in order to maximize ease of understanding.
Technologies of visualization of educational material are based on the importance of visual perception for a human being, on the leading role of image perception in the processes of cognition and awareness of an increasingly necessary preparation of a person and his consciousness for the conditions of the visualized world and increasing information load.
Technology of visualization of educational information is a system, which includes the following components:
a set of learning knowledge;
visual ways of their representation;
visual-technical means of information transfer;
a set of psychological techniques of using and developing visual thinking in the learning process.
The pedagogical function of visual media “is not about giving students a vivid and colourful image of an insufficiently known fragment of reality and broadening their sensory experience in that direction”, writes F.Sh. Teregulov, “but about revealing to students the essence of the phenomena being studied, establishing stable links and relations between parts of the whole being studied and its relations to a wider range of phenomena, leading students to adequate scientific generalizations”.
Visualization of learning material is based on two principles:
The principle of systemic quantization;
the principle of cognitive visualization.
System quantization stems from the specific functioning of human thinking activity, which is expressed by different sign systems:
linguistic;
symbolic;
graphic.
All possible types of models of knowledge representation in a concise form correspond to the human property of thinking with images. Studying, assimilating, thinking over a text is just making schemes in one’s mind, coding the material. If necessary, a person may restore, “unfold” the whole text.
The principle of system quantization involves taking into account the following patterns:
learning material of a large volume is difficult to remember;
learning material arranged compactly in a certain system is better perceived;
Allocation of semantic landmarks in the learning material contributes to effective memorization.
The principle of cognitive visualization stems from psychological laws, according to which the efficiency of learning increases if the visualization in the teaching performs not only illustrative but also cognitive function, that is, cognitive graphic learning elements are used. As a consequence, the “figurative” right hemisphere gets involved in the learning process. At the same time, “supports” (drawings, diagrams, models), compactly illustrating the content, contribute to the systematization of knowledge.
Visualization functions are very diverse. It can be used with the purpose to:
to help the objectification of a verbal message or to present a message that the child will have to translate into the form of a story or an answer to the questions posed;
to control the completeness and character of assimilation of the information given by the teacher;
to promote the development of imagination and fantasy;
to reveal the nature of individual perception and processing of educational information;
to activate cognitive interest;
to concentrate attention on something important;
to divert attention to another object;
to cause certain associations;
to develop the ability to analyze and compare;
to train attentiveness and observation;
to form the ability to draw conclusions and make logical inferences;
to form abilities to see and make analogies, to realize and ground their point of view, to argue their position, to consolidate the studied material;
develop critical thinking;
integrate new knowledge;
to connect the received information into a complete picture of this or that phenomenon or object.
The technologies of visualization of educational information include presentations, Buchen’s mental maps, didactic multidimensional technologies, clusters, infographics.
Visualization can be used at all stages of learning:
during the explanation of new material;
when repeating the material;
during consolidation and generalization of what has been learned;
during the control and systematization of knowledge;
during the performance of homework;
memorization;
When working with the text of the work;
at independent work, etc.
All stages of the use of visual media in the process of training and education teacher determines independently.
Use of visual media has a great potential for solving problems related to time management in a lesson, especially urgent given the constant intensification of the educational process. The main purpose of using any means of visual demonstration is the possibility of implementing two-channel communication, and therefore increasing the volume of transmitted information.
Thus, visualization of educational information:
Facilitates students’ perception of learning information by presenting it with consideration and in accordance with their cognitive peculiarities;
contributes to the formation of correct ideas of pupils about the object of study, eliminating the need to correct initial misconceptions later;
allows you to focus students’ attention on the main semantic elements of the educational material, highlighting them in the visual image and at the same time filtering out the secondary and unnecessary details;
allows you to intensify the learning process through the use of economical in volume and time presentation of educational material in figurative form;
activates various types of thinking and memory of students;
promotes better incorporation of new knowledge into the system of previously acquired knowledge, as well as its assimilation and memorization by the student;
develops cognitive interest of students;
makes it possible to create a positive emotional background in the lesson;
facilitates the implementation of interdisciplinary links in learning, etc.
The technology of visualizing information through the use of ICTs has acquired new qualities:
interactivity (facilitates the transfer of initiative in learning from the teacher to the student;
dynamism (static images become dynamic);
deployability (possibility of displaying a different structure of connections, step-by-step detailed elaboration of the object or its part, the sequence of procedures, preceding the result, etc.).
Didactic potential of visualization technologies
Let us consider the didactic potential of visualization technologies through realization of the basic principles of teaching, characterizing the essence of an integral pedagogical process and defining learning efficiency.
The principle of visualization is one of the oldest and most important in didactics. Я. A. Comenius called this principle of clarity “the golden rule” of learning and understood clarity as a sensual component, which allows you to use different senses to get the most complete and accurate information about the object or phenomenon, which is perceived by man. Linking visualization with sense cognition, the main place of Comenius. A. Comenius gave the main place to vision, considering observation the basis of all knowledge. Modern researchers point out the importance of combining visualization with activities and point out the need to pay more attention to the activity component of visualization.
Implementation of the didactic principle of visualization in teaching has received new development and implementation through the use of modern visualization technologies, which can visualize any objects, regardless of their nature, including abstract ones. Combining 3-D graphics with animation provides great opportunities for recreating an object in its fullness of form and color, displaying its essential properties, relations and interactions with other objects. No traditional way of visualization is not able to show the student for the primary familiarization of the object of study, in which it can change, move, interact with other objects according to the laws of the subject area. In addition to this, the use of interactive technology allows implementation of various forms of student’s activity with the studied object, from its observation in different situations and from different angles, to arbitrary manipulation with the object, and then to conduct systematic virtual experiment. As a result of such activities, a rich empirical basis for the generalizing thought activity of the student is created.
Visualization cannot be connected only with visual sensations, but it promotes accessibility of presentation of material, activity and independence of a schoolboy in educational activity, systematization of the received knowledge, influences emotional perception of material, its assimilation and memorization. Thus, visualization technologies contribute to the implementation of such principles as the principle of accessibility, consciousness and activity, strength of knowledge assimilation.
Application of visualization technologies helps to increase accessibility of learning, taking into account not only cognitive capabilities of students, but also their age features, focusing on clip thinking of modern schoolchildren. Using visualization technology makes it possible to transfer difficult learning material into the category of accessible; to present complex abstract objects in the form of clear and understandable images, using dynamic diagrams and animated models; to make the material, which is outside the sphere of student interest, exciting and exciting, involving in the learning process bright facts of the real world, comprehensively affecting the emotional and sensual sphere of students. The use of such opportunities provided by visualization technologies, positively affects the formation of learning motivation, increases the level of cognitive activity of the child, forms a positive attitude to learning activities, stimulates the independent search for knowledge.
Visualization technologies expand the possibilities of using activity-based approach and problem-based methods of teaching, thereby creating prerequisites for better assimilation and memorization of educational material. For example, mind-maps help students to plan and organize independent learning activities, contribute to the development of skills to set specific cognitive tasks and find ways to achieve them.
Visualization technologies create an opportunity to immerse the student into the subject environment in the process of controlling learning achievements, to provide him/her with an opportunity to demonstrate his/her knowledge and skills using typical means and tools of subject activity.
The principle of scientificity finds its embodiment, first of all, in the content of educational material presented in textbooks, teaching aids, etc. However, under the conditions of the high rate of scientific knowledge update, rapid obsolescence of educational literature becomes inevitable, and the implementation of the principle of science becomes a teacher’s task, while the use of virtualization technologies helps without relying on textual sources adapted to the learning process, to introduce new information into the content of training. Also, modern technology allows the teacher to involve students in independent active work with an interactive visual model aimed at studying the object. In the process of this work students learn research skills.
Principle of systematic and sequential learning. Visualization technologies, in particular structural-logical schemes, allow a teacher to show the system of inner connections in the material studied, to demonstrate the hierarchy of key notions and relations, to present visually the logic, the ideological core of the educational material. Based on the interactivity and expandability of such schemes, it is convenient to show the place of new material in the structure of the topic, its connection with previously studied material.
The principle of connection between theory and practice argues for the need to reveal to students the practical relevance of knowledge, to build student confidence that the knowledge they acquire will help them succeed in their practical activities. Visualization technologies play a special role in realization of this principle as they provide a virtual model of an object for a student, which he/she can examine, study, subject to various influences, satisfying his/her curiosity and acquiring a basis for conscious assimilation of theoretical knowledge in the process of such activity. Then the student can use the acquired knowledge in the process of practical work not with a real object, but with its model, and by trial method gradually approach the desired result, analyze the causes of arising discrepancies, eliminate errors. In the process of such activity a schoolboy not only tests his knowledge, but also gets an impulse to acquire new ones.
The use of modern visualization technologies in the educational process creates opportunities for improving the quality and effectiveness of learning through the possibility of implementing leading didactic principles of learning at a qualitatively higher level, taking into account the cognitive features of the modern generation of students, as well as the need for succinct presentation of educational material in the form most convenient for its perception, understanding, assimilation and memorization.
