Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Diagram Affordances And Their Impact On Students’ Answers About Rivers And Groundwater, Daniel R. Curtis

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Diagrams are important tools for conveying information in geoscience education. Choosing what imagery to use and assessing its effectiveness is not straightforward. A diagram needs sufficient affordances (i.e., details, dimension) for the viewers to comprehend the intended message without adding too many details that will confuse and distract the viewer. Prior research suggests that the viewer’s knowledge and experience impact how diagram affordances are interpreted. Understanding this interaction between knowledge, context, and diagram affordance is critical for education and assessment.To investigate how changes in affordances affect student interpretation of images, we surveyed undergraduate students (N = 201) in introductory Earth …